


Out of time (I felt you in my legs before I ever met you)

by c00nt



Category: Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, And I can't wait to share what I've compiled to show for it, Basically Kara is still struggling with everything that's happened in season 2, But she'll find her way back home by spending some time in an alternate timeline, F/F, I've spent almost an entire YEAR on this story, IT'S THE AU AU FOLKS!!!!, Season 3 canon need not apply as I have my own version to share, Sorta fake dating AU because Kara and Parallel!Lena have to pretend to be girlfriends, Sorta fix-it fic because I'm rewriting season 3 without actually having watched it
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-07-03
Updated: 2018-10-11
Packaged: 2019-06-01 15:30:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 23,172
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15146159
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/c00nt/pseuds/c00nt
Summary: Still grappling with the aftermath of the Daxamite invasion, Kara finds herself isolated from her friends, her family, and even herself. And to make matters worse, a routine mission gone wrong results in her being transported to another universe altogether. A parallel timeline, in which she's still a reporter at CatCo, on good terms with all her loved ones, and apparently... dating Lena?a.k.a. The AU au.





	1. Chapter 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Season 3? What Season 3?  
> (This takes place a few months after the Season 2 finale)

On average, it takes Kara exactly twelve minutes and fifty-seven seconds to fly through National City. It’s fifteen minutes and three seconds whenever she takes the time to investigate every nook and cranny of every single neighborhood using every last one of her super senses at full capacity. Barring the occasional inconvenience, Kara usually finds herself completing her twenty-fifth citywide patrol by the time midnight rolls around. After that, it takes roughly twenty-five more circuits before the sun finally arrives to spill across the distant horizon, painting the skyline both brazen and bloody.

Then, and only then, can she call it a night.

With the morning sun comes dawn, which only brings with it more of the same. Though admittedly, everything is much easier even in the harsh light of day. When National City comes to life around six o’clock, Kara can see her restless energy reflected in the bustling metropolis. Her nerves agitated and lit up, then promptly lost in the daily shuffle, not unlike the citywide grid-plan of traffic queues and people. 

The routine itself has been simple enough to maintain for the past several months. Thanks to her superhuman constitution, Kara has had no trouble rationing her sleep and stamina in order to keep to this newly self-appointed responsibility. Kryptonians have always been _more than_ here on Earth, and now more than ever, does Kara feel the need to prove herself as more than _enough_. 

Crime has been and stayed at an all-time low in Supergirl’s city. Ever since Kara Danvers had quit her job at CatCo, Supergirl has taken to answering her duties with perhaps more force than necessary. Her careless displays of strength have resulted in broken wrists, concussed suspects, even whole structures needlessly leveled. All of which serving not only to deter criminal activity at a more productive capacity, but also to root Kara’s existence in the physical. Somewhere she can _be_ and _feel_ irrevocably real and present and alive and far, _far_ from anything that could even begin to _resemble_ fragility. 

As for community service, Supergirl has considerably diminished her presence in the public eye, eluding human contact when it doesn’t involve apprehending criminals. She repeatedly turned down speaking opportunities at the girl scouts’ jamboree, has deferred the occasional cat up a tree to the National City firefighters, and when contacted about the unveiling of the statue—a long imploring email from Lena to Kara to invite the caped hero—Supergirl ultimately failed to make an appearance. 

And so did Kara Danvers. 

A part of Kara knows that the statue is intended to be bigger than Supergirl. A symbol of all the Good to be found in National City, carved out of the very same steel the citizens of which believed to run in Supergirl’s veins. But an even greater, heavier part of Kara—the same part that gnaws at her insides during those sleepless nights, dragging her impossibly down—simply cannot abide the constant reminder. 

Of loss. 

Of what it means to be Supergirl.

Of how she will always sacrifice everything that is good for Kara Danvers in favor of upholding whatever is good for the world. 

And when the statue was eventually defaced—anti-alien rhetoric spray-painted in red right over the _El mayarah—_ it felt like a sigh of relief. An emotional reprieve granted to Kara’s bones, already aching with the weight of the two worlds. 

Quitting her job was a lot easier than Kara thought it’d be. She and James had already been on shaky terms since the Guardian reveal, and he wasn’t surprised when she submitted her two weeks notice. He let Kara go with the reminder that she would always have a desk waiting for her at CatCo if she were to ever change her mind. She smiled and accepted the hug, but already knew by then that she wouldn’t be stepping back into the building as Kara Danvers ever again. 

Not when Kara Danvers is so clearly a mistake. 

It wasn’t long after that that everyone began dropping out of Kara’s inner circle. James pulled back once she left CatCo for good while Winn and J’onn learned to deal exclusively with Supergirl. To Lena’s credit, she _did_ try very hard at first. She extended invitations for lunch meetings and coffee dates again and again, only to rebuffed at the last minute. But after Kara and Supergirl had both been no-shows at the ceremonial statue reveal, communication between the two women dwindled then ceased altogether. 

Needless to say, the Danvers had persisted a bit longer than all the rest. Eliza still leaves the occasional voicemail, which Kara half-heartedly addresses a few day later by text, promising to call back soon but never quite getting around to it. Alex herself had initially been very stubborn, even breaking into Kara’s apartment on occasion when she hadn’t heard from her recently enough. But even then, their conversations had ended the exact same way every time: an expression of condolence and love, then a pragmatic agreement that Kara just needed some space for the moment. Space and, of course, time. 

That is, until their last such conversation which had culminated in raised voices and barbed insults meant to breach even Kryptonian skin and sisterly bonds. Since then, they haven’t really spoken beyond the bare minimum and DEO duties. 

And now, it seems as if Kara has all the time and space she could ever need in this lifetime and beyond, which honestly suits her just fine. 

//

After yet another quiet night having transitioned into a noisy yet uneventful morning, Kara allows herself a few more twelve minute fifty-seven second circuits around the city before heading back to the apartment. She is already resigned to another day of reheated leftovers and fitful naps when her phone goes off. 

Stopping right outside her neighborhood, Kara hastily fishes out her phone and barks into receiver, “Yeah?” 

“Supergirl?” Winn says hesitantly. “Do you think you can come in to HQ? Like, right now?” 

“What’s wrong?” Kara pauses, then slowly asks, “Is it… Alex?” 

“No, no! Nothing like that.” Relief immediately floods Kara’s system. “But you’re gonna want to see this.” 

“Already on my way.” 

// 

Turns out that not only is Alex fine, but she’s also practically frothing in anger, if the tone Kara hears upon arrival is anything to go by. 

“You shouldn’t have called her,” Alex is saying, her voice steadily rising. “You should have come straight to _me_ or J’onn.” 

“I can’t keep something like this from her!” 

“Well, it’s not up to you!” 

Kara runs toward the pair as soon as her boots touch the ground. “Hey, hey, _hey!_ What is going on here?” 

Alex and Winn turn to look at Kara, both dropping into more neutral stances. 

“I found something,” Winn says. He nods his head at the vast monitor behind him, a map with a single point blinking in an urgent red. 

“We should approach this with caution,” Alex starts, but Kara doesn’t even spare her a glance. 

“Show me,” she says instead, following Winn to the computer screen as Alex sighs heavily in the background. 

“I’ve had the computers set to detect incoming projectiles from outer space. Ever since… uh…” Winn falters. Kara feels her fingers twitch and just barely reins in the instinct to curl them into fists. “Because… we’ve had things and people crashing onto Earth before. So, I figured it’d be best to keep track. Just in case.” 

“Keep going,” Kara says, her voice flat. 

“Right! Anyway. We actually got a hit today. A real one. Not just some random asteroid crashing two cities away or something.” Winn blows up the map, zooming in on the blinking dot. “And check out that radiation signature.” 

Alex frowns, finally joining them at the computer. “Is that… Kryptonite?” 

“No, not quite,” Winn says, shaking his head. “I’m actually not really sure _what_ it is, but it’s definitely extraterrestrial in nature. You know, of the alien persuasion?” 

“Don’t say it like that,” Alex says with a groan, even as Kara presses forward. 

“Is there a chance that…” Kara swallows. “Is it a pod? Or a ship of some kind?” 

“No,” comes the disappointing, but expected answer. “It’s too small.”

Kara just nods to herself. “All right, I’m going to go check it out then.” She turns to leave, already translating the map into flight directions in her head, only to see Alex standing in her way. “I’m going.” 

“Aren’t you forgetting something?” Alex asks. 

“What?” 

“Oh, I don’t know. Maybe the fact that it’s clearly a _trap?”_

Kara scoffs. “You don’t know that.” 

“ _You_ don’t know that it’s _not._ For all _you_ know, whatever that is can _kill_ you,” Alex says, throwing her hand toward the screen. “I know Winn said that it wasn’t Kryptonite, but that chemical makeup is definitely _way_ too close for comfort.” 

“Well, we can’t just _leave_ it there,” Kara protests. “What if an innocent civilian gets to it first and it’s toxic? Or maybe it’s a weapon? No. I’m _going.”_

“Just give me a half-hour and I can get a tactical team together, and maybe—”

“No, that’ll take too long.” 

“Kara! You can’t go rushing headfirst into potentially dangerous situations like this,” Alex snaps, all semblance of patience hurtling out the window. 

Kara squares her shoulders, chin raised high. “Who’s going to stop me?” 

Alex’s eyes harden. She lets Kara push past her, their shoulders brushing just short of an actual collision. 

“I’ll keep comms open,” Kara offers over her shoulder after a pause. 

“This is a mistake.” 

“It’s not your decision.” And without another word, Kara jumps into the air and speeds out of the premises. 

She is already miles away when a voice sounds somewhere behind her— _you should have_ fucking _waited—_ but it’s faint enough by then that she can just pretend not to have heard. 

//

It's not difficult to pinpoint the projectile’s crash site once Kara approaches the coordinates, though its blast radius is a lot smaller than she would have expected. The object itself isn’t particularly extraordinary. Just a small cube the size of an average football, made of some unfamiliar metal. 

“What do you see, Supergirl?” Winn’s voice crackles through the earpiece. 

“Not sure yet.” 

Kara floats closer to the cube, hand outstretched cautiously before her. Then taking a deep breath, she gives the object a single tap with her finger. Nothing happens. She picks the cube up, turning it over in her hands. It’s heavier than it looks, but only barely. Kara snaps a picture with her phone. 

_“Why are you holding it in your hand?”_

Rolling her eyes heavily, Kara taps at her earpiece. “Alex. Put Winn back on. Now.” 

A muted scuffle and a distinct _Ow!_ from Winn, then his voice comes through once more. “Back,” he grumbles. “So, what is it?”

“Well, I was hoping you could run the picture through the DEO database.” 

“Oh, good idea.” 

As a steady fast-paced clacking fills her ears, Kara appraises the cube, turning it this way and that. She gives it an experimental squeeze. As if on command, the cube comes to life, vibrating and growing warm against Kara’s skin, shallow grooves lighting up in familiar geometric patterns. 

“Whoa. It’s glowing,” Kara says. 

There is another series of muffled sounds of struggle before Alex’s voice comes through the speakers, “Kara, let go of it. _Now.”_

But Kara notices something then. Something she can’t possibly ignore. “It’s Kryptonian,” she says in awe, finally making out the characters carved into the metal. And that’s when she realizes that whatever this cube is, it must have been meant for _her_ to find. 

“How can you tell?” Winn asks. 

“No, I mean… There’s writing. The symbols. They’re _Kryptonian.”_

“Can you read it?” 

“It says _PUSH ME,”_ Kara says slowly, her eyes squinting. “Or I’m pretty sure that’s what they _meant_ to say. The grammar isn’t great…” 

More scrambling and Alex is back in her ear. “Kara. Whatever you do, do _not_ push—”

Kara presses her thumb right on top of the command, a circular divot depressing like a button, and instantly finds herself hurtling down a cacophony of flashing lights and whirling sound. 

// 

Kara’s arm shoots out even before her eyes open. Her ears are still ringing, but the unmistakable sound of screeching metal breaks through as Kara’s fingers tear through the material with ease. 

A familiar voice floats past the fog congested in Kara’s head and eyes, though the words remain muffled and intangible. 

It takes a lot of coughing and quite a few blinks before Kara can place herself in the DEO hospital wing, sitting up in what is now an obliterated sun bed. A few more blinks and Kara identifies the figure hovering by the bed—the one apparently asking a million questions a minute as evidenced by the rapidly moving lips—to be Winn. 

The roaring in Kara’s ears die down, gradually allowing his voice to filter in. 

“—all right? You should lie back down!” 

“Winn, I’m fine,” Kara rasps, her voice dry and sore with disuse. “I feel fine.” She tries to wave Winn off and away, but he just continues his rambling out of arm’s reach. 

“You could probably use a few more hours with the sun lamps though. RIP to this one, by the way.” Winn gingerly pats at the smoking hunk of ripped plastic and twisted metal. 

“Sorry,” Kara offers. 

“S’okay. It was only… uh, really expensive?” Winn falters, hand going to scratch the back of his head. “Right… Right.” 

Kara coughs again “Can I take these off?” She gestures to the multitude of wires crisscrossing off her chest and temples. 

“Sure!” Then Winn slaps a hand to his forehead. “Wait, let me check your vitals first.” He skids toward the monitor where all the sensors are meticulously hooked into. “God, I’m so bad at this… Uh… Everything appears normal. I think.” 

Kara sighs and finally manages to wave Winn away with some success. “So, what happened?” she asks, casually ripping all the wires off in one go, much to Winn’s chagrin. “The last thing I remember is… getting called to the DEO, then… going off to a crash site?” 

“Yeah… We’re still not entirely sure what happened back there," Winn admits. "All we know is that you touched something that knocked you out for a little bit?” His voice ends high and unsure, with more than just a touch of worry. 

“Just how much is ‘a little bit’?” Kara demands.

Winn flounders, eyes jumping around the hospital room. “You know what? I’m going to go get Alex. She’d be so much better at this…” 

Kara snatches at Winn’s sleeve, almost tearing it right off his shirt. “How long was I out, Winn?” 

“Well, let’s see. You fell unconscious last Saturday, and it’s Friday now, so…” 

_“Six days?”_ Kara cries. “I’ve been out for _six days?”_

“Math! I can do that too!” Winn exclaims. He jumps back with a gulp as Kara practically falls out of bed. 

“Six days. Oh no. Oh God… Can I see Alex?” Kara snaps her head around the room. “Where is she? Why isn’t she here?” 

“I’ll go get her!” Winn cries, hands flying up in panic. “Stay. Put!” 

But Kara promptly disregards his plea and follows him out of the room, albeit at a much slower pace than his mad scramble. In his blind haste, Winn very narrowly escapes colliding into someone Kara never would have expected to see at the DEO. 

Kara notices Lena first, as the harried woman has yet to glance up from the phone in hand, a disposable coffee cup clutched in the other. Her usually impeccably pressed clothing appears wrinkled and slept in, and the prominent bags underneath her makeup-free eyes suggest that she’s been at the DEO for at least an entire day. Which is strange. Even Kara doesn’t stay here that late anymore. Barring any impromptu weeklong comas, that is. 

“Winn, I’m terribly sorry, but we’re going to have to switch off,” Lena is saying, tone brusque with exhaustion rather than unfriendliness. “There’s a few work emails I have to answer right away or this Hashimoto deal is—” And that’s when her tired green eyes finally leave her phone and meet Kara’s. 

A sharp gasp then an uptick of heartbeat, both giving away to a fast-paced staccato of heels, and Kara finds herself engulfed in Lena’s embrace. 

Lena buries her face into Kara’s neck, arms thrown around her shoulders, feet dangling in the air, and Kara has no choice but to brace the woman against her body with a gentle hand to her back. 

Lena speaks in heaving breaths, every word tinged with wet sobs. “Kara, Kara, _Kara…_ You’re okay…” 

Words fail Kara. 

She just holds Lena, staring helplessly at the coffee cup and smartphone that the CEO had abandoned so suddenly in her rush to embrace her. The styrofoam had burst upon hitting the floor, cold coffee now pooling around what is most likely the latest iPhone model. But all that is clearly the furthest thing from Lena’s mind as she sobs openly into Kara’s neck. 

Kara feels her cheeks burn. The unexpected display of affection from someone she hasn’t even spoken to in _months_ is overwhelming to say the least. And drawing attention. Concerned DEO agents pausing mid-duty. Winn pointedly looking the other way. Few others who actually appear somewhat gratified by the tearful reunion. 

When the heaviest of sobs seem to settle, Kara carefully sets Lena down onto her own feet. Completely undeterred, Lena keeps her arms wrapped around Kara’s frame, face now pressed into Kara’s flimsy hospital gown instead of her neck. 

“Lena…” Kara tries to fathom a way to disengage the woman without hurting her, physically or otherwise. 

“I’m so sorry, Kara,” Lena whispers back. “So, so sorry…” 

“It’s… fine,” Kara says, but then Lena’s next words are said so softly that even her super-hearing has a hard time catching them. But once the words register, Kara jerks away as if burnt. 

She stumbles back, all but leaving the ground in her haste. Lena starts and draws her hands away, eyes still wet and blinking. 

“Kara?” 

“Kara…” Alex cautiously emerges from the bustling crowd forming around them. 

_“What_ is going on?” Kara demands, still staggering backwards. “I’ve been out for a whole _week_ and somebody needs to explain what the hell happened.” She turns back to Lena, the woman’s already pale features getting paler by the moment. “Why did you say that? _How_ did you say that?” 

“Kara,” Lena says gently, almost pleading. She reaches out with a hand. “Darling, I—”

_“Why_ are you calling me that?” Kara snaps, and Lena just flinches, hand immediately dropping back to her side. 

Lena melts back into the crowd as Alex and Winn inch forward with their arms raised in a gesture that is clearly meant to be calming.

“Kara,” Alex calls out in a firm voice. “You’re okay. You’re in National City. You’re at the DEO and—”

“I know where I am!” Kara says. “But _nothing’s_ making sense right now.” She backs up even more, tripping over a trash can and knocking over a stray chair in her panic. “Don’t come any closer, I swear to _Rao…”_

Alex immediately halts her approach, holding out her arm to warn everyone else back as well. “Okay, fine. I’m not coming any closer. See?” She keeps her hands raised in a neutral position. “… Are we good?” 

_“No,”_ Kara says emphatically. Her eyes rake over the scene, filled with people both familiar and not. It does nothing to quiet the overactive nerves firing beneath her skin. “I don’t know…”

“Just tell us what you remember, Kara,” Alex suggests. 

“I’ve been out for only _six_ days, Alex! How much could I have _possibly_ forgotten since then?” 

“Kara. Please.” 

With a frustrated sigh, Kara starts to pace as she racks her exhausted brain. “Flying around National City. Getting a call from Winn. Stopping at the DEO. Going to the crash site and seeing that weird cube thing…” She comes to a full stop, words trailing off. “The cube…” Kara whirls around. “Where is it?” 

“Where’s what?” Alex asks, wary. 

“The cube! With the Kryptonian lettering!” 

“No, hold on,” Alex starts, but Winn is already pointing at a table in a distant corner and Kara zips straight over, sending papers flying in her wake. 

Kara hastily sifts through the cluttered table, hands passing over broken gadgets and spare pieces of tech before a familiar glinting metal catches her eye. By the time everyone else starts running over, Kara’s already got the cube in her hands, zeroing in on the button with the clumsy Kryptonian carved across it. 

_“Push me,”_ Kara reads to herself once again. 

Alex sprints forward, calling out as she pushes through the crowd, “Kara! Whatever you do, _don’t_ —”

Kara pushes the button. Then she pushes it again. Then again. Then again and again in rapid succession, but nothing happens. No flashing lights. No whirling sounds. Nothing. But still, Kara pushes the button, over and over, with the frenzy of a woman who needs the world to make sense again. 

Eventually, a touch comes to Kara’s shoulder, one so familiar that she already feels herself sagging at the contact. “Kara, it’s okay,” Alex says softly. “You can let go.” 

Kara opens her hand and lets the metallic bane of her existence clatter onto the ground. It bounces twice before landing button side up, and as soon as it’s settled in place, the cube begins to light up and vibrate with an insistent whir. Eager, Kara reaches out with her hand again. But before her fingertips can even brush against the cool metal, the cube shifts. The button with the Kryptonian command swivels in on itself, flipping over to reveal a circular screen, from which a column of bright light streams through.

Everyone except Kara takes a collective step back, with Alex futilely tugging at Kara’s shoulder. But Kara barely even notices, enraptured by the beam of light now flickering before her. It blinks a few times, warping and expanding until it finally settles into a familiar face. 

“Hey!” Winn cries out, his index finger extended. “It’s Mix—Myxp… That Myxy guy…”

“Mxyzptlk,” Lena promptly supplies, pronouncing the name better than she has any right to. But for the moment, there are more pressing matters to address. 

Kara grabs at the figure, hand swiping right around where Mxyzptlk’s collar should be, but her fingers close around empty air. She feels nothing by a slight warmth from the light emitting from the tiny screen. A hologram. 

“Kara Zor-El,” Mxyzptlk says, spreading his arms wide in a magnanimous gesture. “As I live and breathe. How wonderful it is to be here before you now.” 

“What do you want?” Kara demands. “And where the—”

“Ah-ah-ah!” The grinning imp holds up one slender finger. “Before you get started on what I’m sure will be a lovely, if a little sanctimonious speech, I’ll have you know that this is a pre-recorded message.” 

Kara grits her teeth as she watches Mxyzptlk make a great show of leaning forward, a hand cupped around his ear. 

“What was that, love? Oh, that’s right. I _still_ can’t hear you.” Mxyzptlk giggles, and the unsettling sound burrows straight into Kara’s ears, burning down her spine. “Well, now that _that’s_ settled, let me cut right to the chase.”

Mxyzptlk straightens up then, all trace of mirth slipping off his face, and Kara can’t help but take a step forward, making sure that their eyelines are leveled. 

“By now, you’ve probably gathered that you don’t _quite_ belong here, Kara.” 

Kara tries and fails to not glance around at the people surrounding her. The expressions of worry and confusion all trained directly her way. Alex hesitates, then reaches for the cube. 

“Maybe we shouldn’t,” she starts, but Kara quickly blocks her hand, determined to see this through, whatever  _this_ may be. 

“You see, Kara,” Mxyzptlk continues, clearly blissfully unaware of all the trouble he’s causing. “You’ve banished me from your godforsaken planet through underhanded Kryptonian trickery. So, I only thought it fair to extend that very same courtesy to _you._ And I even used your exceptionally _primitive_ language to do it.” 

Kara’s jaw and fists clench as one, but she stays put as Mxyzptlk settles back into that wretched smirk of his. 

“It’s just a simple switcharoo really. An exchange between parallel timelines,” he says, crossing his two pointer fingers over each other in demonstration. “ _You,_ swapped out for _their_ Ka—”

A spark of red explosion and all that remains before Kara is a smoking patch of singed tile. Kara blinks back her heat vision, distinctly noting that the cube has been kicked safely out of range thanks to Alex’s quick reflexes. 

The device is now on its side, projecting Mxyzptlk horizontally, and the imp continues to drone on, undeterred by the new orientation. He mentions something about hoping Kara would die in this unfamiliar terrain, surrounded by the very people she loves, who will always miss someone she isn’t and how she’ll consistently fall short and—

Before she knows it, Kara is taking another step forward, eyes lighting up once more. She barely feels Alex’s hands shoving at her chest or Winn yanking at her arm. Then Lena slides into view with her open palms outstretched before her. 

_“Wait!”_

And… Kara does. 

“That thing…” Lena gestures wildly behind her toward the cube, “might be our _only_ chance of figuring this out,” she says, panting between words, panicked. “So, please… _Please.”_

Kara stares at Lena for a long, long time. The familiar green eyes looking back at her with an unfamiliar combination of desperation and reverence. Eventually, Kara drops her gaze and shoulders, giving in with a small nod. 

A collective sigh of relief ripples throughout the room, and Winn scurries over to recover the cube. He clutches onto the device—with Mxyzptlk long gone, silent and ordinary once more—offering everyone a nervous half-smile. 

“Uh… What now?” he asks. 

Kara doesn’t even have the energy to shrug her shoulders. She just glances over at Alex then at Lena before turning back to Winn. But in the end, it’s J’onn’s steady rumble that breaks the silence amongst them. 

“Now… I think we have a little talk.” 

// 

After diligently sending most of the extraneous personnel back to their posts, J’onn gathers the core group in one of the smaller conference rooms. Tucked away into relative privacy, everyone channels their jumbled emotions through either pacing or fidgeting in some shape or form. Except for Kara. 

She just stands slightly off to the side, hands tucked into the spare DEO jacket Alex has lent her, now zippered over her thin hospital gown. Kara avoids eye contact with everyone, taking special care not to match eyes with Alex or Lena. But for the latter woman’s part, it seems like she herself is avoiding Kara’s eyes as well. 

“Does Kara really not belong here?” Winn blurts out. He winces upon noticing the exasperated sighs and venomous looks that he draws from the room. “What? It was getting too quiet…”

“This Mxy guy said a _lot_ of things,” Alex points out. “Why should we take him at his word anyway?”

“Because…” Kara hesitates as everyone snaps their attention back to her. “Because everything is different here. I can just feel it.”

And she does. The way the air hits her skin. The smells, all vaguely off. The very earth beneath her feet moving at the expected pace, but with plates shifting in a strange, new pattern. Alex has a couple of faded scars behind her left ear from wounds that must have occurred much earlier than six days ago. And Lena… She keeps looking at Kara like her entire world is just crumbling before her very eyes. 

Kara quickly averts her gaze again. 

“Hang on,” Maggie pipes up for the first time. “That hologram said something about parallel timelines? What the hell does that mean?” 

J’onn nods sagely. “If we are to believe the imp at his word, then we actually have a much more serious problem on our hands than I thought.” 

“Mxyzptlk said I was… swapped out. For another Kara. The one that apparently belongs _here,”_ Kara says slowly. “Is that… possible?” 

“It’s not supposed to be,” J’onn says. 

“But we’ve dealt with parallel universes before,” Alex protests. “With Barry and all the rest. Hell, he was able to get through just by running really fast. Why should this be any different?” 

J’onn shakes his head with a deep sigh. “Jumping between overlapping worlds that are merely vibrating at different frequencies is one thing. Breaking through _dimensions,_ on the other hand, is another thing altogether.” He sighs again. “Imagine every major decision you’ve ever made in your life. Then imagine every possible outcome of that exact moment. Each one of those outcomes eventually goes on to form their own separate timeline, each with their own respective chain of events.”

“But that would mean that there’s an infinite number of timelines out there,” Winn says. “Each one marking their own version of possibilities.”

“Precisely,” J’onn says. “And crossing over from one to the other is beyond _reason._ Or it’s supposed to be.”

“But say a 5th dimensional being with a grudge comes along,” Lena says quietly. “Decides to break apart the very fabric of reality…” 

J’onn gives a grim nod.

“What? That can’t be right…” Winn frowns. “She looks and sounds _exactly_ like Kara. Well, except the whole…” 

He coughs suddenly, pretending he wasn’t just about to gesture to Lena, whose pale cheeks color anyway. Kara feels an answering blush in her own features and fights the urge to cover her face. 

“Right…” Alex cuts in, thankfully sparing either woman from having to form a suitable response. “So, how do we fix it?” She glances at Kara, her lips pursed. “How do we get Kara back home? And how do we get _our_ Kara back here?” 

“The answer probably lies in the device,” J’onn says, nodding toward the metallic cube still in Winn’s hands. 

“What _is_ it?” Kara demands. “Did you at least manage to figure that out while I was comatose?” 

“Absolutely no idea,” Winn admits. He turns the cube over in his hands, consciously avoiding any stray buttons with his fingers. “So far, all I’ve gathered is that it’s probably running on some internal power source. But I can’t get it open and I tried _every—”_

Kara plucks the cube out of Winn’s hands and promptly tears off the top half, sending tiny sparks dancing across her fingers. 

“—thing except _that…”_ Winn finishes lamely, somewhat deflating. “Wow. Okay… so…” He gingerly accepts the two halves from Kara. “Great. This will… definitely speed things up.” 

“How long?” Kara asks. 

“Well, it’s not going to be easy,” Winn says. “I’ve only just scratched the surface, but with a few hours—”

“Okay. I’ll wait.” 

Winn blinks. He glances down at the fragments in his hands before shooting a helpless look at J’onn. 

“Kara…” J’onn steps forward. “Agent Schott’s been up for the past 48 hours trying to crack this device in hopes of getting you conscious again. Now that you’re awake and the urgency is over, I think it’s about time for a well-earned rest.” He looks around the group. “We could all use it.” 

And that’s when Kara notices the tell-tale signs of weariness from the people around her. The slept-in clothes, the unbathed bodies, the messy hair, the sunken dark circles beneath their bloodshot eyes…

“You’re right,” Kara concedes, crossing her arms and looking away. “You should take as much rest as you need. We have all the time in the world to figure this out, right?” 

“Right,” Alex agrees with a nod while Winn breathes out an _oh thank God_ at the same time. 

Kara drifts out of the room, directing her super-hearing elsewhere to grant the group some privacy as they discuss their plan of attack for the following morning. She allows her awareness to bounce around, tuning in here and there. Idle gossip in the men’s restroom. Someone flipping carelessly through an instruction manual. A sneeze from the floor below. And… Lena, hovering somewhere behind her, teeth chewing on her lower lip. 

“What is it?” Kara asks without turning around. 

But Lena doesn’t startle. As if she’s been expecting Kara to do that, or perhaps even accustomed to it. She just presses forward, taking on an almost too steady of a cadence, “Miss Danvers, I just wanted to… apologize for my behavior earlier.”

Kara turns around, eyes slightly narrowed to study the woman before her carefully. Lena’s chin is tilted up, hands folded neatly at her sternum, and her eyes though slightly reddened are as dry as ever.

“That was extremely inappropriate of me,” Lena continues, “and I assure you that it won’t ever happen again.” 

“You…” Kara shakes her head. “You didn't do anything to apologize for.” 

“Well, I beg to differ, but…” Lena trails off with a sigh. “I should head home. I need to be back at the office in about…” She glances at her watch. “Oh, four hours.” 

“Do you need a ride?” Kara asks, already regretting her next words. “I mean, I could fly you. It’ll only take a minute.” 

Lena visibly stiffens, fists clenching so tightly that a couple of knuckles pop. “That… won’t be necessary, Miss Danvers,” she says finally, her words measured and cool. “Please pass on my regards to Alex and all the rest.” 

And with that and a turn of a heel, Lena is out the door. 

Kara’s ears follow Lena with ease—the faint clack of heels and subdued heartbeat—all the way down to the parking lot, where Lena finally releases the first choked sob in the presumed safety of her empty car. 

Kara yanks back with a stumble, so preoccupied with directing her attention elsewhere that she almost knocks over a whole row of computers. A hand shooting out to steady the closest monitor, Kara trains her ears beyond the building, way beyond the city, honing in on a single flutter of wings hundreds of miles away as an owl takes flight in the distance until Lena’s car is far away enough to ignore.

It isn’t long before she’s approached by Alex and J’onn, with Maggie lingering in the background. 

“So… about sleeping arrangements…” Alex starts, and Kara feels overwhelmed and relieved all at once. “We decided that it would be best for you to stay _here_ for the night. Unless you have any objections?” 

Kara shakes her head, picking at her jacket. “That’s fine.” 

“Great. Let me go clear out a bunk for you…” Alex says, but J’onn drops a hand on her shoulder and squeezes. 

“No. Allow me,” he says. He leaves with one last meaningful look, though Kara can’t tell whether it’s for Alex’s benefit or her own. 

Alex releases an extended breath through her nose before looking up and flashing Kara a quick, slightly strained smile. 

“You don’t have to wait with me, you know,” Kara says. “You’re probably exhausted.” 

“I’m fine.” 

“Maggie’s waiting for you.” 

“She can wait. She’s fine.” 

Alex looks down at her feet with another sigh. After a brief moment with herself, she nods and straightens up again, seemingly having come to a silent conclusion. Kara braces herself. 

“Listen, Kara, you don’t… have to stay here,” Alex says hesitantly. “If you think you’d be more comfortable somewhere else—maybe somewhere more _familiar—_ you can always just stay with me.” 

“That’s okay,” Kara says, already shaking her head. “Here’s familiar enough, believe me.” 

Alex’s eyes soften then, and without warning, Kara’s chest is struck with a sharp pang, an abrupt realization that this is the first time in almost a month that her sister’s eyes have looked at her like _that_. Blinking back nothing, Kara has to look away. 

They stand like that in an unsettled silence for a few more minutes before J’onn returns.

“Hey,” Alex says, latching suddenly onto Kara’s upper arm as she turns to leave with J’onn. “I’ll see you tomorrow, okay?” And that’s all the warning Kara gets before she’s yanked into a rough hug. “I’m glad you’re okay, Kara,” Alex gets out in a gruff voice. 

Kara barely has time to return the embrace before it’s over, Alex pulling back without prompting, her eyes hard despite holding back tears. 

Speechless, Kara just nods, wrapping her own arms back around herself. “Good night, Alex.” 

“Night, Kara.” 

And Kara can still feel Alex’s eyes following her as J’onn escorts her out of the room and to her sleeping quarters for the night. 

// 

Two hours later, Kara is out of bed and rummaging through an empty kitchen, her body groaning its disapproval at not having been fed proper food for the past week. She finds a couple of frozen goods—hot pockets, pizza bagels, and other microwavable snacks—that she zaps with her heat vision and devours. 

She inhales a loaf of bread and some cheese, demolishes the pudding cups, and is desperate enough to consider something that looks suspiciously like a plain kale salad when Winn waltzes into the room. He freezes mid-step as Kara freezes mid-bite. 

He waves. “Uh. Hi.” 

“Hi,” Kara says around a mouthful of food. “I was hungry.” 

“I could see that,” Winn says. “Me too. Hence the late-night visit to the kitchen.” 

“What do you have?” Kara demands, setting aside the container of salad that she might not have to resort to after all. 

“Popcorn?” 

“Where?” 

“It’s in my secret compartment… Here.” Winn walks over, Kara hovering close behind him, and he opens up a small lead-lined pantry hidden inside an empty cupboard. “Help yourself…” he says as Kara reaches over him, hands already pawing at the bags of BBQ Lays. 

She groans in appreciation as she crams chips by the handful into her mouth while Winn watches on in open-mouthed horror. 

“It’s been six days since I’ve had real food,” Kara points out. 

“Yeah, but I didn’t realize that you had turned into a compete _animal_ since then.”

Kara snorts. “I’d throw a chip at you, but I’m too hungry to waste anything right now.” She polishes off two family-sized bags of chips and an entire box of granola bars in about five minutes flat. “So, you said something about popcorn.” 

“Jeez.” 

Winn hands over several shrink-wrapped packets that Kara eagerly accepts. She pops the bags with her heat vision and graciously returns only one of them back to Winn. 

The two spend the next few moments in an almost comfortable silence, just munching away on their respective snacks doused in imitation butter, side by side right there on the kitchen floor. 

“You certainly have the appetite of the real Kara,” Winn eventually says, shaking his head in wonder. 

Kara frowns into her second bag of popcorn. “I’m a real Kara too, you know. Just because I don’t technically belong here, or whatever, doesn’t mean I’m not _real.”_

“Kara 2 then,” Winn amends.

“But _I’m_ Kara 1 to _me.”_

“Fine, fine. Alt-Kara, it is.” 

Kara sighs in exasperation. But that’s probably as good as it’s going to get. 

“So, why are you still here?” Kara thinks to ask as she opens up a third bag. “I thought you were heading home.” 

“I crash here sometimes,” Winn explains, tossing back the last of his own popcorn. “I got my own room and everything. Somedays I stay here so late that it’s not worth trekking all the way home just to be back here in the morning, you know?” He nudges Kara’s shoulder with his own. “What about you? You didn’t feel like staying with Le— _er,_ Alex?” Winn clears his throat, sneaking a glance at Kara. 

Kara just shakes her head in answer for both questions, intended and not. 

“So… How are you doing?” Winn asks slowly. 

“I’m still really hungry, but I feel like I can wait until breakfast now.” 

“That’s not really what I meant.” 

“But it’s how I’m answering.” Kara can feel Winn’s gaze burning into the side of her face, so she makes it a point not to look over. 

“Well, in any case,” Winn starts up again, “I’m glad that you’re okay.” 

Kara exhales a short laugh. “Why? Because it must mean that _your_ Kara is okay too?” 

“Sure, that works,” Winn says, shrugging nonchalantly. “But I’m also glad that you’re okay as well.” 

“Why?” 

“Because you’re you,” Winn says, like it’s the most obvious thing in the world. “And Kara—the original flavor, not the alt variety—is one of my closest friends ever. So, it’s nice to know that other versions of her in other universes with whole other lives are alive and well too. Doing okay.” 

After a long beat of silence, Kara gives a small nod, crumpling the last of the popcorn bags in her hands. Winn smiles then, gives a light punch to Kara’s shoulder, bidding her good night _for realzies this time,_ and Kara just nods again. 

“Thank you,” she says, before she can stop herself.

Winn whirls around in the doorway, raising double finger guns. “No prob, heartthrob! Just pay me back for the popcorn and, er, everything else later.” 

“Okay. I will.” 

// 

Kara can hear the familiar footfalls and heartbeat traveling through the DEO, accompanied by a smell that has her mouth watering even before she can ascertain the source. She’s already sitting up in her bed and expectant when a polite tap comes at her door. 

“Yes?” 

“Can I come in?” 

“Sure.” 

Alex steps into the room and in her hands are three large paper bags in all their grease-stained glory. “Morning. How’d you sleep?” 

“Briefly, but comfortably. That’s from Noonan’s,” Kara says, without missing a beat.

“Sure is. What clued you in? The logo or the smell?” 

“The smell,” Kara answers very seriously. She swallows hard, her stomach suddenly and painfully unable to recall all the snacks it had consumed only a few short hours ago. “So… is one of those bags for me?” 

“Actually, they’re _all_ yours.” 

The tiny room is promptly treated to the unceremonious sound of tearing paper and Kara is cramming her mouth full of the very bacon she’s been salivating over since Alex had first stepped into the building. 

“Good to know that your love of food isn’t limited to this timeline,” Alex says with a snort. 

The comment gives Kara pause. It’s a casual enough thing to say, but the wry smile coupled with the familiar teasing tone still tugs at Kara’s heart something terrible. 

“Well, if this world has a Noonan’s, it can’t be all that bad,” Kara says, before something more sincere could tumble out of her mouth. She quickly returns to eating. 

Alex doesn’t have to wait long as Kara makes short work of all three bags in barely under ten minutes. Kara has moved onto chugging a gallon jug of water tossed her way when she notices Alex holding out a pair of sweatpants and a long-sleeved shirt. 

“In case you wanted to wear something besides sleepwear.” 

“Thank you.” 

Kara takes the clothes and waits, but Alex makes no move to leave and Kara’s forced to exchange a few clumsy yet mundane pleasantries with her. Eventually, Alex offers to show her around the facilities and Kara agrees. It's all pretty much the same and Kara could probably logically place anything that isn't, but it's not like there's anything better to do.

The two women walk mostly in silence with their hands shoved deep in their respective pockets—Kara’s in the front pouch of her sweatshirt, Alex’s in her pants. They continue the highly unnecessary tour of the building until Kara comes to a standstill right outside the training room. 

Alex shoots her a cautious smile. “Do you want to spar for a bit?” 

“What? No. Just… thinking,” Kara says. 

“Okay…”

“I’ve just been wondering about… something.”

“Like what?” 

“Like why you’re being so nice to me,” Kara blurts out. She brushes her hair back, desperately wishing she had a pair of glasses to fidget with. “I mean, technically, I’m not your sister. Technically, your sister is very far away in a-whole-nother dimension, right? So… why?” 

Alex tilts her head, the frown settling on her face familiar and almost comforting. “Do you have memories of me? Of _your_ Alex?” she asks. “Because I have memories of _you,_ Kara. Lots of them. Good ones. Bad ones. Ones that are both at the same time.” She shakes her head with a small laugh. “It’s fucking weird, I’ll admit. And what you remember and what I remember might not even line up perfectly because, yeah, different timelines apparently. But… I still _feel_ close to you.” 

Kara worries her lip. She shrugs a shoulder. 

Alex sighs. “Are you saying that the Alex from your world wouldn’t do the same for my Kara?” 

Kara stops to think about it. Considers the growing distance between the two of them during the past year. The unwarranted snipes. The radio silence. The emotional chasm that neither seems to want to broach out of habit. But even then… 

“No, she totally would,” Kara has to admit. 

“There you go,” Alex says, satisfied. “Now come on. There’s a new waffle maker in the cafeteria that you’ll probably want to get acquainted with.” 

Kara’s already growling stomach is inclined to agree. 

// 

In the afternoon, Alex is off to do some routine weapons check and trades off with Winn, who arrives with burgers and the goal to catch Kara up on the current timeline. 

It’s a little tedious, but besides Winn’s insistence on referring to her as _Alt-Kara,_ it’s not too bad. The burgers definitely more than make up for it. 

“So, that’s a _no_ on CatCo?” 

“Yup. I actually just quit.” 

“ _Just_ quit?” Winn raises his eyebrows, but when it’s clear that Kara wouldn’t be any more forthcoming, he moves on again. “All right. So, _no_ CatCo, where James is apparently acting as… CEO? _So_ weird by the way. Like, cool, good for him, but _weird.”_

“It sounds like he’s doing well for himself here though,” Kara says almost diplomatically. “Still a renowned photojournalist, with an extra Pulitzer to show for it.” 

“Because that’s _my boy!”_ Winn whoops through cupped hands, much to the annoyance of all the other agents in the area. “Sorry, guys!” 

He flashes Kara a goofy grin and she can’t help but roll her eyes and snort at the ridiculousness of it all. 

“That’s all I need for now, I think,” Winn says, slamming his laptop shut. “The good news is that most of your memories seem to line up with ours, so you’ll definitely fit right in.” 

Neither he nor Kara mentions the ever expanding elephant in the room. The most obvious difference between the two worlds. 

Though it must definitely cross Winn’s mind once or twice because he then goes on to say, “And anything that’s, uh, _different,_ well… Our timelines are close enough that those details should be _recognizable_  at the very least.” 

Kara crinkles her brow. “What’s that supposed to mean?” 

“Nothing. I don’t even know…” Winn scratches at the back of his head. “Uh. Well, I got some homework for you though. You have your, er, _Kara’s_ phone, right?” 

“Yeah, Alex gave it to me this morning,” Kara says, pulling out the phone in question. “I only went through the contacts, but there weren’t many differences. Just some extra restaurants that don’t exist where I’m from.” 

Kara decides that it’s not worth mentioning that her phone back home doesn’t have Lena listed as _Honey Bunches of Love_ either. 

“Great! So, my assignment for you is to google some of Kara’s articles,” Winn says, rubbing his hands together. “Get familiar with them. The style of writing, the contents, the works… You get it.” 

Kara’s stomach is already rolling. “Why?” 

“No reason! Okay, bye!” Winn squeaks out before scurrying off to some distant corridor, laptop tucked precariously underneath his arm.

Kara just sighs. It’s only much, much later that she realizes that she’s forgotten to ask about Winn’s progress with the inter-dimensional cube. 

//

It’s around dinner time when Alex finds Kara floating around the basement amongst all the dusty files that surely no one’s touched in years. 

“Hey, get dressed. We’re getting Chinese,” Alex calls out, tossing up a duffel bag that Kara deftly catches. 

A quick squint reveals a couple of fresh outfits, a pair of glasses, and some toiletries. 

“Lena,” is the curt answer when Kara looks down in question. 

“She’s here?” Kara automatically looks up to the ceiling, as if she could somehow catch a glimpse of the woman walking out of the building. 

“Nope. She left them with me when I saw her earlier.” 

“Oh.” Kara starts pulling out the clothes, examining each item in turn. “Since when were the two of you so buddy buddy?” 

“Since she started dating my sister.” 

And there it is. 

Out in the open for Kara to hear and process. 

Alex eyes her carefully, head tilted ever so slightly, but Kara doesn’t react beyond offering her a small, tight smile. 

“I’m going to change and freshen up," Kara says. "I’ll meet you upstairs?” 

“Sounds like a plan.”

// 

Kara doesn’t know what she’s been expecting, but the National City that she walks out into is unremarkable in its resemblance to the one back home. It mostly consists of the same buildings situated in the same locations, populated with very similar people. But there is indeed _one_ undeniable difference that chafes at Kara’s skin, one that’s become much more pronounced in the open air. 

“So… There’s something off about this world that I haven’t been able to put my finger on until just now,” Kara says, and Alex tenses up slightly. 

“Like what?” 

“There’s no lead.” 

“There’s no… _lead?”_

“Not any more than usual anyway,” Kara hastily adds. She’s avoiding Alex’s eyes. 

“What are you getting at?” 

Kara takes a breath and plows on through, “There wasn’t a Daxamite invasion here, was there?” 

“Daxamite?” Alex frowns. “You mean, like Mon-El?” 

Kara’s heart skips a beat and dares to to hope. “Yes. Yes, actually. Exactly like Mon-El.”

“No. Nothing like that,” Alex says. Her eyes narrow a touch. “That didn’t come up with Winn’s parallel venn diagram session?” 

“Not really,” Kara says, which is better than admitting that there were certain subjects she had been actively avoiding. “Um…” Her hand automatically comes up to touch the rim of her glasses, and the familiar movement keeps her grounded enough to keep going, “So, Mon-El… You know him. Or of him. Is he… Is he here?” 

The answer is apparent in Kara’s hollow chest, her heart sinking even before Alex starts to shake her head. 

“He _was_ here, but he left about five months ago,” Alex explains. “Went back to Daxam with his parents to shake up their backwards society or something. Really taking a leaf out of M’gann’s book, you know?” 

“That’s…” Kara nods furiously. “That’s great.” 

Alex pauses, head tilting. “Did you want to see him?” 

“Well…” Kara’s voice cracks, so she clears her throat. Rubs at her eyes. “Maybe. Yes? Yes. I did.” She shakes her head and tries to shed the awkwardness with the movement. “But honestly, it’s enough to just know that he’s okay…” Then she laughs despite herself. “All right. _Fine._ I think I kinda get why people keep saying that to me now…” 

Alex flashes Kara a small smile and gives her hand a brief squeeze before sternly announcing that they still have quite a ways to go before they can eat. 

// 

When they finally arrive at the restaurant, they get seated right away, the servers greeting Kara and Alex warmly and with familiarity.

“Yeah, we’re regulars here,” Alex explains when Kara makes a comment. “Well, not we as in _you_ and me, but we… you know.” 

Kara nods politely. “So. How are you adjusting?” 

“Me?” Alex actually snorts. “I’m not the one who’s been dropped into a whole new reality!” 

“Yeah. But you lost a sister.” 

Alex cringes. “Kara, what the hell? It’s not like she died or anything…” A faint frown pulls at the corners of her lips. “You all right? I feel like you’ve been mopier than usual, even with this whole timeline jump thing.” 

“Than usual,” Kara echoes mindlessly. 

“Yeah. Is that weird for you?” Alex asks, concerned. “I can stop if it makes you uncomfortable.” 

“No, it’s okay,” Kara says, and it really is. 

Because this Alex is being familiar and sisterly in a way that the Alex back home hasn’t been for quite some time now. There are no sensitive land mines between them, sown from months of evasive miscommunication. No topics either woman has to tiptoe around so as not to disrupt the eggshells littered in the wake of their collective silence. 

But then a waitress comes by, eagerly inquiring the whereabouts of one Miss Luthor, and Kara is promptly reminded that this new world actually comes with its own set of emotional liabilities, complete with its own respective land mines, eggshells and all. 

Kara gapes, balking at the simple question, so Alex quickly steps in. 

“At the office. Again. You know Lena. Such a workaholic.” 

The waitress laughs. “Of course! Did you want to order something to-go for her later?” 

“Not tonight, Cheryl,” Alex says with an easy smile. “Though I might get something for Maggie before we leave.” 

“All righty then.” The waitress—Cheryl—pulls out her notepad. “So, what can I get you two?” 

They place their food orders and when Cheryl asks if they’re going to go with their usual fifty-piece potsticker appetizer, Kara’s jaw drops slightly and Alex agrees for her with a small chuckle. 

Once they’re alone again, Kara turns to Alex. “Can I ask you about something? Something else, that is.” 

“Fine,” Alex sighs, reaching for her water. “But don’t make me regret saying yes.” 

“It’s about Lena.” Alex waits. “That’s a thing here.” Alex waits longer. “How on _Earth_ did that happen?” 

“Is this the ‘how you met’ story,” Alex says, rolling her eyes, “or that really annoying thing Kara does where she asks me periodically how she’s managed to land such a babe?” 

Kara stares. “Um.” 

“Let’s go with the first one then,” Alex says with a sigh. “Let’s see… I know you guys met for the first time around three years back. But then, nothing really happened between the two of you until Lena moved to National City earlier this year.” 

“Three years back?” Kara frowns. 

“Yeah, at some sort of tech conference in Metropolis?” Alex shrugs. “Cat Grant was invited, and you tagged along as her personal assistant.” 

Kara nods. She actually remembers the conference in question. Cat was giving an important talk about the benefits of raising female voices in the media and Kara had sat in on a panel or two. But as far as she knows, nothing out of the ordinary had happened that weekend. 

Alex gives Kara a wry smile. “Not ringing any bells, huh?” 

Kara racks her brain one more time for good measure before shaking her head. “I _was_ at that conference, but I’m pretty sure that Lena didn’t attend. I think I would have remembered…” 

Alex raises an eyebrow then and Kara feels herself blush without quite understanding why. But she’s thankfully spared from addressing it when Cheryl arrives with a heaping platter of potstickers in hand. Kara digs right in chopsticks first, with Alex following suit somewhat more calmly. 

Mouth full, Kara groans in appreciation. “The potstickers in this universe are _so_ much better than the ones back home.” 

Alex rolls her eyes. “You’re just hungry.” 

And Kara is content to agree to disagree and to just continue their meal in silence. But as her chopsticks touch the penultimate potsticker, she freezes, head snapping up. Noticing right away, Alex grabs her wrist to keep her from bolting. 

“What is it?” 

“I hear sirens,” Kara whispers. “A fire.” 

“It’s fine,” Alex hisses back, giving Kara’s arm an insistent squeeze. “You’re fine. Look.” She nods at the tiny television hanging by the bar and Kara follows her gaze, and lo and behold, Supergirl is on screen rescuing people from a burning building. 

Kara crinkles her brow, then realizes all at once. “J’onn.” 

“J’onn,” Alex agrees with a nod. “He’s been covering for Supergirl for the past week or so.” 

“But not for Kara Danvers.” 

“Nope. He says that once was enough as long as Kara’s still in Cat Grant’s employ.” Alex sips her water in a thoughtful pause. “You know… He can’t keep covering for Supergirl either. He has other responsibilities as director of the DEO.”

Kara drops her gaze, disappointed to see that no potstickers remain to serve as a ready distraction. “You want me to fill in. Not only as Supergirl, but as Kara Danvers too.” 

“It’s more of a need at this point,” Alex admits. “No pressure,” she adds as an ironic afterthought.

“Do I even have a choice?” 

Alex scoffs. “Of course, you have a _choice.”_

“Right. To either fill in or singlehandedly ruin Kara’s career and earn yet another black mark on Supergirl’s reputation…” The bitterness of the words bleed into Kara’s mouth, and she’s not sure if she’s even hungry anymore. 

“Look. It’s not a _great_ choice. It’s a shitty choice, in fact,” Alex says. “But we won’t make you do something that you really don’t want to.” 

Then their main courses arrive and the two women have to break off their conversation with practiced bright smiles for Cheryl’s benefit. Kara uses the few extra moments of reprieve to contemplate Alex’s request. Stepping into Supergirl’s knee-high boots would be easy enough. No different from her own role back home. 

But Kara Danvers? CatCo reporter and resident dorky everywoman? No doubt still affecting that classic cheery disposition and seasoned clumsiness that everyone would be expecting of her? The very thought sinks deep into Kara’s heart.

But as much as Kara longs to say _No,_ to refuse, to take the out that Alex is offering her, she can’t help but feel guilty for the other Kara. The one who has to live with the consequences of her inaction. Kara herself knows firsthand how hard she must have worked to rise up the ranks at CatCo. And how rewarding she finds the work. And how grateful she is to have a space to be normal, actively grounding her in the very humanity she defends as Supergirl on the behalf of National City. 

“All right,” Kara says, spearing a piece of chicken with her chopsticks. “I’ll do it. Supergirl and… all the rest.” 

Alex thanks her, but doesn’t discuss it any further, a testament to how well she knows her sister. 

Kara sighs. 

Back home, Kara Danvers is still a mistake and essentially dead to the world. But it’s different here, and she wouldn’t be able to stomach killing yet _another_ Kara Danvers. 

Not when it’s not even her own life to give up. 

//

Kara’s first day as the other Kara Danvers starts off normally enough. Well, as normally as it could be, given the circumstances. 

She accepts the paper bag of breakfast items from Alex, gets dressed in both a checked blouse and the Supergirl suit, and heads over to CatCo. It helps that it’s right where she expects it to be. Where she remembers it to be. The building itself is also pretty distinct and easy enough to recognize, as are most of the people inside it. 

Kara endures Snapper’s indignant barbs about the importance of maintaining good health for the sake of journalism, and is immediately assigned five articles in need of re-verified sources. Simple yet tedious work, but familiar, which is exactly what Kara needs in this topsy-turvy universe. 

When Kara was still employed at the CatCo back home, she had spent most of her time in the bullpen despite having her own office, preferring to rub elbows with her fellow writers. Not to mention the lack of windows or how isolated the office is from everyone else. 

But today, Kara is grateful to be away from the familiar setting and familiar people talking about such unfamiliar things, with a mundane but easy task to complete. The only challenge is having to double-check absolutely _everything_ because Kara has to keep googling certain details, making sure that basic facts and the important events that she remembers still hold true to this timeline as well. 

Two hours into her work, a familiar face pokes in, needlessly announcing his arrival with a couple of knocks. 

“James! Hi,” Kara says, her smile actually genuine. 

He comes over and gives a firm hug that Kara tries to return. “Glad you’re okay.” Then he pulls back and extends a hand. “And if I understood Winn’s incoherent science babble correctly, it’s nice to meet you?” 

“It’s nice to meet you,” Kara agrees, shaking his hand. 

“So, how’s it going?” James asks. He takes a step back and leans against the doorjamb, seemingly intuiting Kara’s need for some personal space. “You… fitting in okay?” 

Kara almost wants to laugh. What a funny question to ask. She hadn’t been comfortable pretending to be Kara Danvers back where she was _supposed_ to belong. But how is she fitting in _here,_ now thrown in an entirely new universe?

“Yeah, I guess so,” Kara says instead. She smiles as punctuation, trying to recreate the Kara Danvers that apparently everyone knows and loves here. 

“That’s good to hear.” James rubs his chin. “Well, if you need any help finding anything or ‘remembering’”—he puts the words in air quotes—“I’m just down the… well, you probably know where I am.” He pauses. “Do you want a tour?” 

Kara has honestly been offered more tours in these past few days than she’s had in a lifetime. Is her counterpart being offered as many opportunities to be shown around? Probably. 

“Thank you, James, but that might have to wait until later,” Kara says. “Because Eve’s about to come fetch me for Cat.” 

And as predicted, Eve bursts into Kara’s office. “Good morning, Mr Olsen. Miss Danvers. Um. Miss Grant needs to see you…” 

“Of course.” Kara remembers to offer James another smile before she leaves. “See you around?” 

“Definitely. Glad to see you’re okay,” he says one last time, squeezing Kara’s shoulder. 

Kara feels the smile on her face freeze and she swiftly follows Eve out of her office. Apparently, the Eve in this timeline has been more diligent with her cardio routine because Kara actually has to dip into her super-speed to keep up with her. But by the time they get to Cat’s office, Eve is still reduced to heavy pants and a vague flapping hand. 

“Go ahead,” Eve gasps out. “She’s expecting you.” 

Making a mental note to bring Eve some water afterwards—maybe a cappuccino? does Eve even _like_ coffee here?—Kara steps into the office. 

The setting is easy enough to place. Same walls, same desk, same monitors though placed in a slightly different pattern, and same old Cat Grant so absorbed with her laptop that she can’t be bothered to spare a glance for her guest. 

Kara adjusts her glasses and steps a bit closer, not quite clearing her throat. The silence stretches out again and Kara is just about to offer a greeting when Cat finally speaks up. 

“Why is it that,” Cat starts, in lieu of a greeting, “when one of my employees comes back to work after an _entire_ week of calling in sick, they don’t bother to come in to apologize or even say hello?” 

“Oh, I—”

“Rhetorical question.” Cat flicks her wrist with a dismissive flourish. “Let me just cut straight to the chase.” She sits up in her chair, setting down her glasses, finally leveling her sharp gaze at Kara. “Now normally, I love taking advantage of my own personal connections and rendering the middleman unnecessary. In fact, I take great pride in it as it demonstrates real power in the industry. But seeing how you’re far cozier with the individual in question, I figured I’d just get you to do the dirty work.” 

“… Oh?” Kara says tentatively. She briefly reflects on Cat’s interesting take on cutting to the chase. “Okay.” 

“I need a plus three for the fundraiser.” 

“Oh, you do?” Kara tries not to blink. “I… will try to make that happen.”

“Try?” Cat’s eyes flash dangerously. “This isn’t a game, Kara. I’m asking _you_ to ask your _girlfriend_ to procure some extra tickets for _me_ so that I can adequately entertain some potential investors.” 

“My—my girl… friend,” Kara parrots slowly, remembering and flushing all at once. 

“Yes. Your girlfriend.” Cat all but rolls her eyes. “Perfect eyebrows, terrible family, and current CEO of L-Corp and organizer of this upcoming gala in your honor? Ringing any bells?” 

That… is quite a lot of information to swallow—some facts already known, while others definitely, definitely not. 

Cat peers over curiously in light of Kara’s gaping silence. “Trouble in paradise? Did something happen between the two of you that I don’t know about yet?” 

“Nope! Not at all!” Kara manages to choke out. “We’re still very much girlfriends! In the gay sense of the word. It’s gay. Between the two of us. We’re gay. I think…” Kryptonians hardly sweat, but Kara feels like she might start any second under Cat’s scrutiny. 

Cat appears vaguely amused, but not taken aback in the least. Good to know that the Kara from this timeline is similarly prone to unchecked ramblings. 

“But of course,” Cat sighs, turning back to her laptop. “She looks at you like you hang the stars in the sky and you’re, well, _you…”_ Kara crinkles her brow, somewhat disgruntled. “How could anything ever come between the two of you? It’s all very predictable and _boring,_ to say the least…” 

But Kara detects a note of relief floating through the dry tone and words, and her stomach clenches uncomfortably in response. 

“Anyway, run along now, Kara,” Cat says, waggling her fingers in Kara’s direction. “And text me to confirm those extra tickets.” 

“Right now?” 

“What? Do you have work to do?” 

“Well, actually, I—” 

“Besides,” Cat continues, as if Kara hasn’t spoken, “it’s almost time for your lunch break, so weren’t you already on your way to L-Corp anyway?” 

“I… I guess so,” Kara says, stumbling over her words and feet simultaneously on her way out. “Er. Goodbye, Miss Grant.” Cat doesn’t even look up from her work as Kara leaves her office. 

With her hand still on the door, Kara freezes in place, suddenly numb with the realization that she will have to see Lena again much sooner than she would have preferred. 

“… Crap.” 

// 

“Glad to see you’re over the flu,” Jess says in greeting, as soon as Kara steps out of the elevator and into view. “Maybe now, Miss Luthor will actually slow down and let herself to relax a little.” 

“Thanks, Jess,” Kara says, somewhat relieved to see a familiar face before venturing into unfamiliar emotional territory. “Is Lena… um, busy?” 

“Not too busy for you,” Jess says with a laugh, and Kara tries to smile back. 

Kara takes a second to surreptitiously lower her glasses and squint through the door. 

Lena’s office looks pretty much the same, though somewhat cluttered here and there. But instead of hard at work like Kara was expecting, Lena herself is just standing by her desk, one hand lingering on the white surface as she stares out the window. By Lena’s hand, there is a single picture frame that Kara doesn’t recognize, placed facedown, out of place and lonely amongst the scattered pieces of paper. And all the while, Kara can hear a slight grinding of teeth as Lena’s jaw clenches then unclenches only to clench again.

With a quick inhale to steady herself, Kara pushes into the office, smiling with as much brightness as she can muster. “Hey…” 

“Miss Danvers.” Lena turns around, hands folding before her, already poised as ever. “I can’t say that I was expecting you.” 

“Is this a bad time?” Kara asks. 

“No worse than any other.” 

Kara glances back at the closed door before awkwardly holding up her offering: a takeout bag from Lena’s favorite Thai restaurant. Well, from _her_ timeline anyway. “This… this is a _thing_ here, right?” 

“Yes. At least three times a week actually.” Lena’s smile is reserved, but not unfriendly. 

“From what I know,” Kara continues cautiously, “you’ll most likely work through your lunch hour unless I sit you down myself. So, please indulge a complete stranger? Also, like, I’m starving, so pretty, _pretty_ please?” 

Lena breaks then, a slight jaw clench giving way to exhaled laughter. “All right, Miss Danvers.” She gestures toward the couch—white, pristine, and familiar. “Though, I suppose we’re not exactly strangers.” 

Sitting together on the couch feels very natural yet not. They both maintain a healthy distance, knees facing away from each other, and Lena takes special care to accept her food without accidentally brushing fingers with Kara. 

Close, but not too close. 

“Phat si-io?” 

“Yup! Sorry it isn’t healthier,” Kara says. “Your usual kale salad place doesn’t exist here.” She can’t help but adjust her glasses as she speaks. 

It's not exactly a lie. Sue’s Salad indeed does not exist here, but in its stead stood an Arturo’s Green, which Kara had promptly passed over for her usual Asian fusion restaurant. 

“Well, I guess it’s a good thing that I like Thai food,” Lena says, a trace of a smirk curving her lips. “Don’t let it get back to Kara, but I actually rather enjoy these regular excursions to the non-organic side of takeout.” 

“Good to know,” Kara muses, digging into her own pad thai. 

It’s admittedly a bit strange to hear Lena discuss Kara in the third person to Kara herself, but even more, it’s strange to hear the unmistakable affection imbued in Lena’s words. 

But Lena seems to notice the slight discomfort because she offers Kara a small smile. “So, how are you adjusting, Miss Danvers?” 

“Um… Okay?” Kara shrugs. “Everything’s the same. And not. Like, Miss Grant is still at CatCo. _I’m_ still at CatCo.” 

“You don’t work at CatCo anymore?” Lena asks, surprised. 

Kara keeps her gaze down at her food. “It’s complicated.” 

Out of the corner of her eye, Kara notices Lena instinctively reaching out before abruptly dropping her hand back into her own lap. The woman fidgets briefly, settling for a polite _Of course_ instead. 

“Yeah, I don’t know…” Kara says, shrugging again. “Things seem to be good here though. Going well for, you know, _Kara.”_ The words keep leaving her mouth more strained than to her liking, so Kara barrels ahead to hopefully push past the unease. “Plus, there’s _this_ whole thing,” she adds in a rush, flapping her hand between herself and Lena.

Lena stills and slowly puts down her fork, taking a deep breath through her nose. 

Kara lets out a nervous titter, touching her glasses. “That—that was stupid, I’m sorry. But, um, that actually reminds me. Like, speaking of… this whole thing?” 

Lena remains quiet, her rising heart-rate sharply contrasting her impassive features as she slowly turns to face Kara. 

Kara clears her throat. “I have some questions.” 

“What kinds of questions?” 

“Miss Grant was wondering if she could get a plus three for the fundraiser. Also, what is the fundraiser for? And also, what does it have to do with me? Or Kara, rather.”

Lena’s face relaxes into a smile, heartbeat tapering off to a more normal rate. “Of course. Anything for Cat Grant. As for the gala…” She pauses, setting her half-empty styrofoam container onto the table. “Where to begin?”

Kara continues to shove pad thai into her mouth as she patiently waits for Lena to find the words. 

“Am I wrong to assume that Cadmus exists where you’re from?” Lena finally asks. “The dreadful anti-alien organization helmed by dear old mommy dearest?” 

“Nope. You’d be correct in that assumption.” 

“Brilliant,” Lena sighs. “Well, several months ago, Cadmus stole the alien registry from the DEO and began kidnapping innocent civilians right off the streets. Kara wanted to publish an article, warn the public…”

“Yeah, I know the ending to this one,” Kara chimes in, not too enthusiastic about revisiting this particular low point in her life. “And Snapper said _No,_ so…” 

“Yes. But Cat said _yes.”_

“Wait, what?” 

Lena is full-out beaming now, a bit of pride shining through her clear green eyes. “Refusing to take ‘no’ for an answer, Kara went over Snapper’s head and went straight to Cat, who insisted Kara publicize the story. Not as an article, but rather televised directly to the public…” Lena glances down at her folded hands, more than a touch of shyness in her movement. “She saved a lot of lives that day.” 

Kara is reeling. 

It’s unbelievable how believable it is. How _right_ it feels. How Kara would have wanted it to happen, had she known it to be even a _possibility_. 

“Trust me. That’s _way_ better than what happened to me,” Kara says. “I got fired!” 

“Is that why you’re not at CatCo anymore?” 

That quickly snuffs out all the mirth again, and Kara just releases a laugh, short and somewhat bitter. “No… That was earlier.” 

“Well, in any case,” Lena continues, once it’s clear that Kara wouldn’t be offering anything beyond that, “the mayor—in an effort to be _officially_ on the ‘right side of history’—has decided to hold a fundraiser in Kara’s honor. To raise money for homeless shelters for displaced alien refugees. And I guess she reached out to me about running it because, well…” 

Lena motions between herself and Kara, in a more subdued imitation of Kara’s earlier gesture, and Kara has to shake her head in amusement.

“I agreed as long as I got to present the award,” Lena says, all eyebrows and wry smile.

Once again, it’s a _lot_ for Kara to swallow, and when she says as much, Lena actually laughs. 

“I’ve been known to get a little _extra,”_ she admits. 

“Hopefully, we get this whole parallel exchange thing figured out in time then,” Kara says. “So the right Kara can be recognized.” 

“Of course. The right Kara,” Lena agrees, all trace of humor gone as quickly as it had come. “Winn and I actually have been in contact about the best way to go about it, and I assure you that it’ll be top priority.” 

“Don’t worry about me,” Kara says with a shrug. “I’m in no hurry to get back.” 

Lena frowns, her brow furrowing in a tentative question, but Kara just shakes her head and looks off to the side. 

“I should really get back to work,” Kara says, hastily gathering the empty containers and disposable utensils into a spare plastic bag. “First day back and all.” 

Lena nods as she gets to her feet. “I’ll send notice to Cat about her plus three.” 

“And I’ll text her on top of that, so we’re doubly covered.” 

“Thank you for lunch, Miss Danvers,” Lena says, with one last reserved smile and nod. She walks back over to her desk, pausing when Kara makes no move to leave. “Was there something else?” 

For a brief moment, Kara considers just shaking her head and echoing Lena’s thanks before leaving like she should. But as soon as her mouth opens to do just that, her words come rushing forth almost of their own accord. 

“I don’t want to call you Miss Luthor,” Kara says, cheeks already burning furiously. “And I don’t want to be Miss Danvers. We’re friends, _Lena,_ and I know it’s different right now. Because we're  _literally_ from different worlds, but like you said earlier, we’re not exactly strangers either…” 

“All right,” Lena says, after a prolonged pause. "Kara it is.” Her steady gaze falters then, a hand reaching out to skim the surface of her desk, once again drawing Kara’s eyes to the picture frame still facedown. “This… This is probably very inappropriate and I really shouldn’t be asking you…”

“You can ask,” Kara says gently. 

“Are we…” Lena swallows, flicks her eyes away then back. “What are we to each other where you’re from? Are we… Are we close?” 

Kara fastens a measured smile across her lips and assures her, “You’re my best friend, Lena.” 

“Best friend,” Lena echoes, shoulders relaxing into a slight slump. “Well. That’s certainly something. I’ll see you later. Kara.” 

“See you later, Lena.” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please don't mention my half-assed explanation of how parallel timelines are supposed to work because I will probably cry.
> 
> And if _you_ feel like crying because of all the angst? Take a fluffy breather right [here (:](https://archiveofourown.org/works/15146306)
> 
> Also, come bother me at @whythinktoomuch on tumblr


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I just _really_ wanted to get this out before the season 4 premiere, so...

An abrupt nod seizes Kara’s attention. It cuts through the din of flowing water and meticulous scrubbing with a precision that is both keen and slightly rude. Kara pauses mid-shampoo just in time to hear Alex shout yet again through the bathroom door. 

“Hurry _up!_ Some of us have jobs to get to!” 

“I have a job too!” Kara shouts right back. _“Two,_ in fact!” 

Alex mutters something under her breath—a pointed comment about how certain people wouldn’t have to deal with any of the consequences after all is said and done—but she stomps away, giving one final knock for good measure.

Rolling her eyes, Kara just gets back to rinsing the last of the shampoo from her hair. She is almost done anyway. 

No matter what Alex says or pretends not to say, Kara actually _does_ have two very important duties to attend to while she is stuck in this timeline. One such duty being the very reason why she had to use the shower in the first place. 

But Kara didn’t quite have the heart to refuse the little girl who had tugged on her cape, begging her to _please_ locate her misplaced doll. With onlookers documenting the entire exchange with their ever-present smartphones and face to face with the most pitiful, watery hazel eyes Kara had ever seen, the superhero had no choice but to agree to the task. 

Fast forward through a gratuitous amount of x-ray vision and super-speed, and Kara found herself scouring the city dump for a limited edition Cathy doll that apparently had been accidentally thrown out about three months prior. When Kara finally uncovered the doll—a bit worse for the wear, but intact—the little girl practically launched herself into Kara’s arms for a grateful embrace.

It was an interesting experience to say the least.

The only downside to it all was the flurry of flashes going off in Kara’s face at the time that left fuzzy spots in her vision for a good ten minutes after the fact. Well, that and the the rotting yogurt that had ended up in her hair. 

All in a day’s work for a beloved superhero. 

The moment Kara opens the bathroom door, Alex is muscling her way past her, grumbling about the limited supply of hot water and Kryptonian constitutions and _what do you even_ need _all that hot water for anyway?_

Kara rolls her eyes again, but leaves the bathroom without a word. She drops onto the living room couch with a heavy sigh, one hand already digging through her trusty duffel bag for an appropriate ensemble to face the world with. 

This is her routine now. 

Though Kara had made the move from the DEO barracks to Alex’s couch only a few days prior, it seems as if her daily routine has already been set, complete with generic sisterly banter and some mild resentment in tow. The change of scenery was mostly to familiarize Kara with the current timeline, an attempt to engineer some semblance of normalcy through immersion. But ready access to an actual shower with actual hot running water is definitely an actual perk, even if it does irritate Alex to no end. 

Initially, Kara had offered to just stay at her parallel counterpart’s apartment, which theoretically should have been no different from her own apartment back home. Then Alex and Winn had to very awkwardly explain how the Kara from their timeline had long since moved in with Lena, inevitably prompting some clumsy jokes about U-Hauling lesbians and the decision to have Kara stay with Alex instead. 

A lot of it has been familiar so far. Sharing meals. Complaining about their respective workloads. Binging on Netflix. Bickering over the mundane. It honestly isn’t too different from the way Kara and her Alex used to interact not too long ago, and for that, Kara is more than a little grateful. 

But there are of course the differences as well, both subtle and not. Ones that occasionally catch Kara off guard. Like how the wastebasket sits on the left side of the toilet instead of the right. Or how Alex’s bookshelves are organized by author rather than titles. Or how certain inside jokes don’t quite land like they’re obviously intended to. For instance, apparently the Maggie from this timeline has taken to referring to Kara as _Little Danvers,_ despite Kara having a clear 5 inch advantage over the woman in terms of height. It’s an irksome habit. But no worse than Winn diligently calling _Alt-Kara._

After procuring yet another pair of boxers instead of a button-up suitable to wear to CatCo, Kara sighs and gives the duffel bag a good shake, but is rewarded with only a slight tearing sound wrenched from the nylon. Though Lena has been regularly sending her clothes by way of her most discreet assistants, Kara’s habit of shedding civilian wear for super-crises still has her burning through her limited wardrobe rather quickly. 

“Hey, Alex?” Kara calls out in the general direction of the bathroom as soon as she hears the rustle of shower curtains. 

“What?”

“Two things! First, can I borrow a shirt?” 

“Again!” Alex says, raising her voice to an unnecessary volume considering Kara’s super-hearing. “I’m going to start charging you for laundry.” 

“And secondly, does Kara literally wear nothing but boxers?” Kara holds up a pair of bright red _Tommy Hilfigers._ Somewhat fashionable, very unwieldy. “What _is_ this? Does she really not own any normal underwear?” 

Alex finally emerges from the bathroom, framed by heavy steam and even heavier annoyance. “Okay, so believe it or not, but Kara and I don’t spend a whole lot of time discussing her choice in underwear.” 

“I’m serious, Alex. They ride _up,”_ Kara says. “I can’t even imagine wearing a dress with these, and I _know_ Kara wears dresses because I saw her Instagram. How does she keep from constantly adjusting herself?” 

Alex shakes her head as she walks to her bedroom. “Again. This is _not_ a normal conversation.” 

“Okay, but why would _anyone_ wear boxers?” Kara calls after her. “Is it like a gay thing?” 

“A _gay_ thing?” Alex echoes, her incredulity verging on offended. _“No,_ it’s not a _gay_ thing, Kara. Jesus. It’s just underwear.” 

“Do _you_ wear boxers?” Kara counters, and Alex just releases a soft scoff in answer, which is confirmation enough. _“Ha.”_

“No. Not _ha!”_ Alex says with a grunt, striding back into the living room. “That’s besides the point. You’re just being judge-y.” She thrusts a shirt into Kara’s arms. “Here.” 

“But I want the dark blue one.”

“You mean the shirt I’m already wearing?” 

“Fine.” Kara sighs, taking the offered shirt and slowly undoing the buttons. “And I’m not _trying_ to be judge-y or anything. I just want to know why Lena insists on sending me only boxers.” 

“Well, you’ll have to ask _her_ that,” Alex says. Then she pauses with a frown. “Actually. Don’t.” 

“What? Why not?” Kara asks, frowning right back. 

“Just… don’t. Don’t make things weird.” 

“Weird how?” 

Alex shrugs somewhat aggressively. “I don’t know. Just weird!” she says, storming away.

Kara just slips on Alex’s shirt without another word. 

//

Regular lunch dates at L-Corp have become another important staple in Kara’s new routine. 

On an average day, Kara greets Jess with a bright smile, handing her an iced coffee from Noonan’s as she asks the assistant about her day. Then Kara pushes into Lena’s office with an enthusiastic greeting, playing the part of the adorable, doting girlfriend… until the door shuts behind her. Once in relative privacy, Kara could drop down to a comfortable volume and level of excitement while Lena’s voice takes on a more polite lilt. 

The extent of their interactions hasn’t progressed too much since their first lunch together. Lena has thankfully taken to addressing Kara by her name and her work desk is now devoid of any clutter—the upended picture frame and other knickknacks having disappeared by their second lunch meeting. But other than that, nothing's changed, and the two women have continued to remain courteous and friendly enough, only interrupted by short bouts of humor on the rarest of occasions. 

For the most part, they eat their lunches on their side of the white couch, going over the same few customary questions about each other’s days, working on their respective laptops. Then after an appropriate amount of time has passed, Kara takes her leave, always with a beaming smile and the audible promise to see Lena “back at home.” 

But today, for better or worse, Kara is forced to break that routine. 

She waits for a lull in typing from Lena’s end, hoping to secure the CEO’s full attention without much fanfare. “Hey, Lena?” 

“Yes?” Lena promptly finishes the last of her typing and turns to face Kara, hands folding delicately at her lap. “Did you need something? More water? I can always ring Jess if necessary.” 

“No, I’m fine,” Kara says, shaking her head. “I just... have a question.”

“Oh? More plus threes?” Lena asks, the slightest hint of humor etched into her perfectly arched eyebrow. “I don’t know how many more I can spare at this point.” 

“No, nothing like that…” 

Kara glances down at the crumpled foil in her hands. It’s been a while since she’s finished her lunch, having busied herself by diligently polishing off three whole chicken parm sandwiches in a desperate ploy to avoid starting this exact conversation.

“So, Snapper’s been asking about this assignment,” Kara starts slowly, cautiously. “One that… you know, _your_ Kara’s been working on…” 

The mere mention of the other Kara has Lena’s polite smile freezing in place. An almost imperceptible jaw clench, then she’s back on her laptop. “I see.”

“It’s an article that Kara had pitched earlier this month,” Kara continues. “Something about a string of robberies targeting alien-owned businesses?” 

“Yes. I remember,” Lena says, her eyes focused intently at her screen. “It was rejected.” 

Kara nods, fidgeting with her glasses. “Right. But apparently, there’s been some new developments and Snapper wants me to write another draft?” She clears her throat and plods on, desperate to get this over with so they could return to their not-quite-awkward silence. “The thing is I checked Kara’s work computer and her desk, and I can’t find any rough drafts or notes on the topic, but James said that I should probably check the yellow flashdrive if that means anything to you?” 

“Yes, I know which one he’s talking about.” Lena sounds cool and collected, casual even, though her fingers rest motionlessly at her keyboard. “Kara usually leaves it in the second desk drawer at her home office. You can let yourself in at anytime, of course. I’m assuming you already have her key.”

“Oh. Yeah. It was in her purse, but—”

“Well, very good then. You can even head over there right now if you’d like,” Lena continues in that uncomfortably breezy tone. “No need to waste any time.”

Kara nods again. “Right. Okay, thank you. And I _would,_ but… I don’t know where you live.”

Lena’s hands fall away from the keyboard and she actually shuts her laptop with a sigh. “Oh.”

“Yeah, sorry…” Kara grimaces. “Actually. Never mind. You know what, you can just give me the flashdrive tomorrow when we meet for lunch, and just forget that I even brought this up. It’s not even that important or anything. It’s just work stuff.” 

“No, it’s… it’s all right,” Lena says softly. She reaches out, her hand hovering but not quite grazing Kara’s knee. “Don’t be silly. Why lose an entire night of productivity out of… I don’t know, courtesy?” Lena shakes her head. “You can stop by here after work and I’ll take you there myself.”

“Really? Are you sure?” Kara straightens up, adjusting her glasses to get a better look at Lena. “My work day ends a lot earlier than yours.” She declines to mention how many times Supergirl has noticed firsthand just how late into the night Lena has been working these past few weeks. 

“Well, it’s not unheard of for me to leave work early for Kara’s benefit,” Lena informs her rather evenly. She plucks at some invisible thread on her pencil skirt. “It should be fine.” 

“Great, well, great…” Kara flounders, not quite sure what the appropriate thing to say in this sort of situation would be. “I… can’t wait to see what you’ve done with the place.” 

Lena exhales a sound that’s somewhere between a scoff and laughter. “Yes. Well.” She clears her throat with a tight smile. “I apologize, Kara, but I should definitely get back to work if I’m to take leave early today.” 

“Completely understand,” Kara says, hastily shuffling to her feet. “I’m done eating anyway.” 

As always, Lena walks her to the door. “Thank you for the lunch and company, Kara,” she says with a polite nod. “I’ll meet you in the lobby later tonight?” 

“Works for me.” Kara hesitates in the doorway. “See you soon, Lena,” she says, realizing with a slight flutter in her stomach that she has to mean it this time. 

//

Kara finishes up at CatCo much earlier than usual, leaving with the promise to get a jumpstart on her latest assignment back at home. But she makes executive decision to drop by the DEO before heading over to L-Corp. Winn is generally still tinkering away in the lab around this time, and it couldn’t be considered stalling when Kara actually has a legitimate reason to check in. 

“Lena’s not here,” Winn calls out as soon as he hears the flap of Kara’s heavy cape. He doesn’t even look up from his work, neck deep in electronics with his trusty wrench in hand. 

“I figured,” Kara says, plopping down on a nearby chair. “She’s probably still tied up in some L-Corp duties. You know, working double-time since she’s taking off early today.” She fiddles with her cape, not quite clearing her throat. “Just to preemptively catch up and stuff.” 

“Taking off early?” Winn says. “That’s coo-o-ool…”

“Yeah! She’s.. taking me to the apartment today, so… yeah.” Kara directs the rest of her explanation down at her fidgeting hands in what she hopes is a breezy tone. “Just gotta pick up a few things. You know.”

“Oh yeah? Nice!” Winn finally looks up, a broad grin lighting up his features. “Gonna go check out the sweet digs, huh?”

“What?” 

Winn frowns. “Oh, do they not say that where you’re from?” 

“No, I’m pretty sure that nobody say that no matter _where_ they’re from,” Kara comments wryly. 

“Wow. Rude much?” Winn says in mock indignation, clutching at his chest dramatically. He jabs his wrench in Kara’s direction. “Man, I can’t _wait_ until we get rid of you, bucko!” 

Kara offers Winn an easy smile, and the gesture comes to her as naturally as releasing an extended heavy sigh. “Well, you’re not the only one. Trust me.”

Winn sobers up straightaway with a slight grimace. He kicks off the worktable, wheels squeaking underneath him in protest as his chair drifts closer to Kara’s. “Hey, so can I just say something?” he asks, dropping his voice all serious. “Just between you and me.”

“All right…” Kara says, though her eyes narrow in caution and warning.

Winn needlessly leans even closer. “Honestly, like _honestly,_ it’s just… _so!_ uncomfortable being in the same room as you and Lena.”

Kara scoffs in disbelief. “Why, _yes,_ Winn. Please tell me more about how _our_ difficult situation makes _you_ uncomfortable.”

“Oh, don’t sass me, Alt-Kara!” Winn says, swatting at Kara’s shoulder with his wrench. “Don’t you know that I’m your only hope of getting back home in one piece?” 

Kara just shakes her head, giving in with a quick exhale of laughter. It’s not so rare of an occurrence, she’s noticed. Laughing. It’s somehow easier to yield to the mirth in the air when she’s not being actively handled like a ticking time bomb. Some things are just easier in an universe where any perceived distance—if any—can be attributed to a more or less neutral cause. 

“I’m just saying,” Winn continues with a grin, “that it’s just _weird_ to see Lena being all, you know…” He puts on a deeper, more polished inflection that’s apparently meant to be some approximation of the woman, _“Yes, Miss Danvers. Oh, no thank you, Miss Danvers…”_

Kara pulls a face. “She calls me _Kara_ now, which is a step-up from you referring to me as ‘Alt-Kara,’ so…”

Winn barrels right past Kara’s comment without a second thought, “I’m just so used to seeing Lena being all lovey-dovey and looking at you like you put the stars in the sky or whatever, you know? But _now—”_

“Not me,” Kara interjects before she can stop herself. She adjusts the already perfectly fitted sleeves of her super suit and straightens up with a small smile. “I wasn’t the one she looked at like that.”

“Oh. Yeah…” Winn scratches at the back of his head. “Well, you know what I mean.”

Kara gives a half-shrug and nods back to the table. “Any progress?” 

“Right! Yeah.” Winn rolls back over to the table, diving back into business mode. “So, I finally managed to isolate the power source for the actual cube, er, pieces…” He holds up the two separate halves of the device in each hand with a sheepish grin. “It was just a little tricky because it’s essentially a decentralized battery.” 

Kara keeps her eyes on the table, her stare both insistent and aimless, but gives a curt nod to let Winn know she’s listening. 

“Anywho… It’s basically made up of various non-Earth metals and this organic goo that’s holding it all together.” Winn plucks at the seams of the battery with a sharp tool, and the substance in question ripples and hums at the touch. “I’m pretty sure that it’s an actual living and breathing organism. Lena thinks it might not even be from this dimension. Like the timeline it’s from is so far removed from ours that absolutely _nothing_ there would be familiar to either one of us!” 

“That’s great,” Kara says, and Winn lets out a nervous titter. 

“At any rate, the plan is to recreate the battery,” Winn says. “Because right now, in its current state, it’s not going to work.” 

Kara blinks, chewing on her lower lip before tentatively saying, “That’s not… Is it broken because of me?” 

“What? Oh! Because of the whole…?” Winn mimes an exaggerated gesture of tearing something in half, and Kara’s stomach drops a little. “Nah. It’s obvious that Mix-whatever-pick wanted you to be stuck here indefinitely. So, the battery automatically deconstructs with every use.” 

“That’s good…” Kara says, something close to relief setting in. Her shoulders slump with an exhale. “Well, not _good_ good, but yeah.”

Winn nods. “All we need to do now is repurpose what metals we can, find suitable Earth equivalents for the parts we can’t…” He shrugs. “It won’t be perfect, but we can definitely get it close enough. We may not have 5th dimensional magic at our disposal, but we got Lena, which is just as good, if not better.” 

“Sounds easy enough,” Kara says. She casually reaches for one of the heavily deconstructed cube halves, Winn’s eyes following her every movement like an anxious hawk. “Good work.”

“The only issue is that there’s nothing we can do about this organic glue thing,” Winn explains, and Kara just hums, tracing one of the clumsy Kryptonian characters with the pads of her fingers. “The good news is that there’s enough goo left for probably one more trip. The bad news is… that there’s only enough left for _one_ more trip. Meaning we only got one shot. No test runs.” 

A nervous flutter ripples throughout Kara’s heart at the implications. “Yeah. Well. I trust you. I’m sure it’ll be fine…” Kara forces a small smile. “So, once we get this radioactive battery figured out, it’s good to go?”

“Pretty much. I mean, Lena’s working on reprogramming the cube, but that should be cake for her.” 

“Reprogramming?” 

“Yeah. Mix-blah-blah-pit sorta designed it to go only one way,” Winn says. “Ergo, this thing has only one function.”

Kara’s thumb slips on the smooth metal and accidentally disturbs a wire, and once again, Mxyzptlk’s grating voice finds an audience, _“Kara Zor-El. As I live and breathe. How wonderful it is—”_

Winn scrambles for the device before Kara can do more than groan in exasperation. “Well, _two_ functions,” he hastily amends with a forced chuckle. He shoves both sides of the cube underneath a cushion, effectively muffling the imp’s message. “I don’t know how to disable that. Not even sure what’s powering it, to be honest, since I extracted the battery… Er, not that it’s important!”

With great effort and lots of tugging, Winn ushers Kara away from the worktable, no doubt wary of her narrowed eyes and itchy fingers. She goes willingly. Even with Winn’s repeated assurances that her rash actions in “opening” the cube didn’t do any lasting damage, everyone involved seems to be intent on Kara not pulling anything like that ever again. Which admittedly is fair. 

After being sufficiently appeased with a box of frosted pop-tarts from the break room, Kara remembers to thank Winn for his around-the-clock tinkering for her sake. He just deflects the gratitude with a broad grin and a light punch to her shoulder, and Kara can’t help but smile at the friendly gesture. 

Kara eventually wanders out of the room with every intention to finally make her way over to L-Corp when a voice calls out to her from a distance. 

“Supergirl,” J’onn says, and Kara waits until he catches up to her. 

“Director,” she greets with a nod. 

“Nice job today.”

“Oh, the pile-up on 17?” Kara says, her brow crinkling. “I actually didn't do all that much. Just got a few people to the hospital. But none of the injuries were life-threatening or too serious.” 

“That was important too, of course, but I was actually referring to something perhaps even more important.” J’onn holds out a tablet, giving Kara no choice but to accept it. 

On screen is a Buzzfeed article about a Mindy Lee who has been interviewed about a doll recently recovered from the city dump. It’s short, clearly more of an excuse to employ relatable memes than anything else, but the comments underneath the piece are overwhelmingly positive all the same. Some just express their approval with memes of their own. Others detail their own accounts of when Supergirl had stepped in for the smaller miracles. And other still just discuss the way her biceps look in the suit. 

It’s a far cry from the lukewarm reception Supergirl had been garnering in Kara’s National City. Not that she could blame them. No one really seemed to know quite what to make of Supergirl’s new withdrawn persona. Media outlets generally agreed that the hero was different in some way, but they also couldn’t deny that she was still getting the "job" done.

But here? Once again, things are the same and different.

Kara returns the tablet, a polite smile gracing her features. “I guess Buzzfeed beat CatCo to the punch today.” 

“Yes, I guess so,” J’onn says nonchalantly, though his eyes remain serious as ever. 

Kara fidgets, barely keeping herself from averting her gaze. “Well, I actually have to go. I’m supposed to meet Lena.” 

“Of course.” J’onn gives her a nod and a smile. “Be sure to give her my best.” 

Kara just flashes another quick smile on her way out. 

// 

A mere ten minutes later, Lena is hard to miss at the L-Corp lobby. Though her tight pencil skirt and neatly pressed blouse aren’t exactly out of place in the business setting, the wide berth she’s granted by most of the crowd still calls enough attention. 

Kara approaches her, mentally gearing up for a sunny greeting, but then Lena finally looks up from her phone. Her CEO demeanor melts away into a small smile and Kara finds herself caught in the sea-green gaze. 

“Kara.” 

And that single uttering of her name is said with such unexpected, wildly misplaced adoration that Kara’s feet falter on the spot. Her cheeks burn uselessly and she actually glances down at her flats, making sure that the leather soles haven’t somehow affixed themselves to the tiled floor without her knowledge. 

Lena’s smile flickers, the hesitation barely discernible, but she tilts her head in clear question. And that’s when Kara becomes painfully aware of their audience. All the passersby who expect the two women to act like a real bona fide couple in love. And here’s Kara, sticking out like a suspicious sore thumb. 

“Kara?” Lena walks up to Kara in quick purposeful strides, a delicate hand coming up to rest on her upper arm. “Are you feeling all right?” 

She leans in and Kara holds her breath in a futile attempt to block out whatever expensive perfume Lena’s wearing today, as if she hasn’t already clocked the scent from miles and miles away. But when Lena’s lips ghost over Kara’s cheek in a semblance of a chaste kiss, the pocket of held air practically burns her lungs from the inside out. 

“You’re drawing attention,” Lena breathes against Kara’s skin. 

The words hit Kara head-on, much like a ton of bricks or even a chaste kiss to the cheek. “Fine. I’m fine,” she rushes out. She grabs Lena’s hand for good measure, hanging on even when the hand instinctively goes to jerk away.

With a tiny shaky breath, Lena forces a smile back onto her face, gradually relaxing her hand in Kara’s, letting their fingers intertwine. Their hands slowly fit together with an ease that usually only comes with practice. She gives Kara a firm tug toward the elevators. 

“I missed you,” Kara blurts out. It sounds affected. Strained. Strange, even to her ears. But it seems like the kind of thing couples would say to each other. Something she might have said to Mon-El at one point or another. 

Lena readily deflects the awkwardness with an easy laugh. “I missed you too, darling. Though it’s been barely five hours…” The tone is amused, if a little teasing, but absolutely flooded with love, love, _love,_ and honestly, Lena must have been trained as an actress at one point or another because this is almost ridiculous. 

Kara adjusts her glasses, noting that the few onlookers from earlier have now turned away, confused stares dissipating along with their interest. Relief travels down her extremities, only to stop right at the edge of her left hand still held in Lena’s warm grasp. Kara’s fingers twitch at the sudden attention and Lena squeezes back as if on instinct, and wow, Lena is one _hell_ of an actress…

That much is obvious when her voice promptly regains its polished tone as they step into the empty elevator. “Could you hit B1 please? Also, next time? We’re meeting at my office. Because that back there…?” She shakes her head very slightly. 

Kara jabs at the requested floor, sneaking one last glance down at their hands still joined and hanging between them. 

“Cameras,” Lena answers, without prompting. “There’s no audio though, so…” She releases an extended sigh out her nose. 

“You really think people would pay that much attention to your _elevator_ footage?” 

“You’d be surprised,” Lena murmurs. “Kara and I once had a mild tiff in this very elevator, and within minutes, the footage was featured on three different gossip sites, each with their own exclusive take on how National City’s it couple was apparently 'heading to heartbreak city'. Goddamn vultures…” 

“National City’s _it_ couple?” Kara echoes in disbelief, but Lena doesn’t react beyond a vague hum. “Do you… Um…” Kara pauses until Lena looks over. “Your bag? I can carry it. If you want.” Her free hand is already reaching for Lena’s purse. 

“Don’t be ridiculous,” Lena says, her slightly sharp tone at odds with the gentle, playful movement with which she lowers Kara’s outstretched hand. “We’re just walking to the car.” 

Kara shoves the rebuffed hand deep into her pocket. “Well, I’m pretty strong, you know…” She doesn’t mean to sound quite so petulant, and yet. 

Lena laughs. It sounds quite different from the one from earlier—when she was laughing for _her_ Kara for the benefit of their audience—but it’s a genuine laugh all the same. “Yes. I’m well aware, Kara. Now come along.” 

She tugs Kara forward, perfectly timing her first steps with the elevator doors hissing open. Once they reach a sleek black BMW sedan, Lena breaks the silence between them with a small cough. 

“… Kara?” 

“Yeah?”

“Your hand.”

Oh. Right. They would have to let go of each other’s hands before either of them can get into the car. Right, right. 

Kara drops Lena’s hand with a sheepish mumbled apology, which Lena only acknowledges with a single nod as she slides into the drivers seat. 

// 

“I didn’t know you could drive,” Kara says, once the silence settles back around them. Apparently, Lena isn’t a big fan of playing music in the car. 

“No? Does Lena not drive where you’re from?” 

Kara drums her fingers on her lap, racking her brain. “Not really. She mostly has her driver take her around everywhere. Sometimes uses the company helicopter.”

“Of course she does,” Lena says with a finality that Kara can’t help but be amused by. “Well, I personally try to drive to work at least twice a week. I find that it helps me stay grounded.” 

“A grounded billionaire," Kara says slowly. "How ‘bout that?” 

Lena scoffs and rolls her eyes, actually _rolls_ her eyes. “I’m trying. What more could you ask of me?” 

Kara just laughs softly, shaking her head to herself, and stares out the window for the rest of the quiet drive.

//

The very first thing Kara notices upon arrival is that their parking lot is—by _far_ —the cleanest parking lot she’s ever seen in her entire time on Earth, both in this timeline and not. It’s downright unsettling. 

Kara inspects the spotless ground in a quiet, subdued awe as she follows Lena into the elevator. But even she has to snort when she sees Lena swiping her keycard and hitting the button for the penthouse.

“Really?” she says. 

“What?” Lena narrows her eyes. “With Kara constantly flying in and out of the apartment, it’s actually quite practical for us to live on the top floor.” 

“Yeah. Okay.”

“You don’t have to believe me, I suppose,” Lena comments with a sniff. 

Kara folds her arms over her chest. “So, when did you get this place again? Was it before or _after_ you started dating Kara?” 

A glimmer of pursed lips. Then, “I don’t see how that’s relevant.” 

“It’s certainly worth nothing though,” Kara says with a wry smile. The one Lena returns is dry but not unkind.

The elevator opens directly into the penthouse because of course it does, and the sight that greets Kara is honestly not as surprising as it should have been. The apartment’s decorum is neat and tidy as one would expect Lena to keep her living space. But there’s also an undercurrent of homeyness threaded throughout the space. 

Simply put, the penthouse feels like an extension of Lena’s office at L-Corp with more than a splash of Kara’s apartment thrown into the fray. 

“Hey. That’s my couch.” Kara approaches the furniture in question, which unsurprisingly appears and feels identical to the one from her own apartment back home.

“That was actually one of Kara’s stipulations for moving in with me,” Lena explains, fondness curving one corner of her lips. “My counter-stipulation was that she had to move the couch here herself.” 

“Well, it’s a nice couch,” Kara says. She lets her fingers skate across the soft material as she takes in her surroundings. 

At first glance, the simple tan corduroy couch—complete with a pair of mismatched flowery accent cushions—appears out of place in this otherwise pristine setting. But then Kara notices a ridiculous seahorse-shaped novelty lamp sitting atop a stark white end-table. Or the multi-colored footstool set before a fine leather sofa chair. Or the little knickknacks and homemade picture frames distributed sporadically amongst academic engineering journals on the rich mahogany bookshelves. 

And suddenly, the couch is perfect.

“So…” Lena finally breaks the silence. “Is it… any different from your Lena’s apartment?”

Kara smirks a little. “I guess we’re done pretending that this luxurious penthouse was all for Kara’s benefit then?” Lena just crosses her arms with a slight huff. “And… well, I’ve actually never been to Lena’s place before, so your guess is as good as mine. Better actually, considering how you’re _also_ a Lena.”

“… Never?” Lena echoes, a slight furrow forming at her brow. 

“I know she lives somewhere uptown… But that’s about it,” Kara says with a shrug, and Lena’s brow creases even further. “Well, I mean…” Kara backtracks, suddenly guilty for a reason she can’t quite place yet. “Lena’s been to _my_ place plenty of times. It’s just… easier, I guess? And we also meet up at work and other places.” 

“That’s interesting,” Lena says, her tone suggesting anything but. 

Kara just shrugs again, already done with explaining herself for the moment. “I like the place though. It feels like home,” she eventually admits. 

The words hit the air even before Kara realizes she’s going to say them. But they aren’t exactly wrong either. If anything, they feel right. Perhaps too right. 

“Yes, well, I suppose that makes sense…” Lena says, but she’s slowly starting to stiffen again. Shoulders bunching. Jaw tightening, grinding down on her molars. 

“So, that flashdrive?” Kara prompts for her. 

Lena blinks back at Kara, then shakes her head, presumably snapping out of her reverie. “Of course. The office is right down the hall…” 

Taking up an impressively brisk pace despite her high heels, Lena leads Kara down a ridiculously spacious hallway, past a few closed doors, through a doorway, and there it is. Kara’s home office. 

Lena heads straight for the desk, rummaging through the second drawer and producing the flashdrive post-haste. But Kara registers all that distantly as she studies the workspace before her. 

In all honestly, it’s terribly roomy. 

There’s a sleek white desk, not unlike Lena’s own back at L-Corp with a shiny new Apple monitor sitting on top. There are some plants, potted ferns in the corner and a modest bouquet of flowers at the edge of her desk. There’s a filing cabinet—an actual _filing_ cabinet for some reason—situated in another corner. And as for the coup de grâce of the elegant setup, not one, not two, but _three_  enormous windows spaced out evenly along the white walls. 

Lena doesn’t ask this time, but Kara can’t help but share her thoughts. 

“It’s… bigger than I thought it’d be,” she says in muted wonder. “I mean, the whole apartment is. But _this?”_ Kara fidgets with her glasses. “It’s almost… too much? Is that weird to say?” 

“It was the guest bedroom, but I had it converted into an office once Kara moved on,” Lena explains quietly. “Nine times out of ten, most of our guests prefer to sleep on the couch anyway. And the ones who don’t, well, I could always just put them up in a hotel if necessary…” 

Kara just nods, picking at one of the flowers on the desk. Plumerias. Of course. Beautiful, though it appears as if they haven’t been watered in days. 

It’s only when Lena clears her throat that Kara realizes that the woman has been holding out the flashdrive for who knows how long now. 

“Sorry,” Kara says. 

Eyes still wandering around the room, Kara grabs for the flashdrive without much care or grace. She ends up overshooting just a tad and her fingers brush across Lena’s wrist. Lena flinches away, snatching back her hand at the barely there touch, the uptick of her heartbeat deafening to Kara’s ears. 

“Sorry!” Kara says again, but Lena remains silent and stony, jaw tightly clenched, chest moving heavily with her deep breaths. Eventually, Kara just holds out her hand, letting Lena drop the flashdrive into her open palm without any risk of contact. 

Yet another thick silence falls over the gradually shrinking room, and Kara shuffles her feet. Now that the reason for her visit is safe and secure in her pocket, there seems to be an even greater loss for conversation between them. 

“So… um… _Oh!”_ Kara exclaims, suddenly and gratefully remembering. “Do you mind if I pick up some more clothes before I leave? I know it’s been only a couple of days, but I’m already running low on shirts.”

Lena barely reacts, the only indication that she’s heard Kara in her fidgeting fingers, twisting and tugging at each other. 

“… Lena?” 

“That’d be in our closet. Which is in the bedroom,” Lena says with a tight smile. “It’s just further down the hall. I can show you, of course.” 

All thoughts of perceived discomfort and apprehension readily fall away as Kara follows Lena into the master bedroom. 

Her eyes immediately land on the bed, which is every bit as lofty and enormous as she expected. It’s not difficult to work out which side is whose, as one night stand is cluttered with a few pairs of fake glasses and at least four used mugs while the other only has a single hardcover book with reading glasses perched on top. The sheets are disturbed on both sides though, as if the bed hadn't been made for quite some time now. 

It’s comfortably domestic, and absolutely and entirely foreign to Kara. 

It takes a little effort, but Kara can almost picture herself in this setting, or a similar one, but this particular scene before her is a snapshot of a relationship that’s clearly progressed beyond anything she’s ever had back home. With anyone. Even Mon-El, who might have been one of her more serious relationships to date. 

“The closet’s through here…”

Lena is avoiding Kara’s eyes, so Kara avoids hers right back. She just makes her way to the indicated walk-in closet, silently shoving random items of clothing into a tote bag that Lena’s offered her. 

Kara remembers to force a smile before she leaves, and Lena responds with an absent nod and a quiet _goodbye_ that Kara can’t quite find in herself to return. 

// 

At first, Kara thinks that Lena might be avoiding her because of how uncomfortably their last meeting had ended. Then when Lena preemptively cancels their lunch date for the third time in a row via e-mail from Jess, Kara _knows_ that Lena is definitely avoiding her. 

_“This_ is what I meant by ‘making it weird,’ Kara,” Alex says with a sigh when Kara tries to casually bring it up over dinner. 

“I’m not _trying_ to make it weird though,” Kara protests, stabbing her fork into a stray meatball in frustration. “I’m just trying to make conversation…” 

“With me? Or with Lena?” Alex asks. Kara just blows out a breath, sending napkins flapping about much to Alex’s great chagrin. “Look. Things are going to be awkward between you guys. It’s unavoidable. You can’t expect Lena to just look at you like you hang the stars in the sky or some—”

“Why does everyone say that?” Kara cuts in without warning. “The stars things, I mean. First Cat Grant, then Winn, and now you. I mean, don’t get me wrong. It’s a lovely saying. But it’s also very specific and getting kinda repetitive.” 

Alex frowns as she takes a pause. “I think that’s how the author might have put it in that profile several months back…”

“What? What profile?” Kara hasn’t been shown any such profile even with the countless homework assignments Winn insists on giving her. 

“The one from _NC Weekly?”_ Alex says. “It was one of the first articles published about your relationship, so it must have set the tone. Cat Grant was _pissed_  about that, I remember.” 

Kara gapes back at Alex. “Wait, article- _s?_ As in plural? _Just_ about the relationship?” A quick Google search is all it takes to confirm what Alex is telling her. “Oh, Rao…” 

“Lena’s a prominent figure in National City. Arguably the biggest celebrity besides Cat Grant and you know…” Alex mimes a flying figure with her hand. “There’s going to be interest.” 

Kara scrolls through article after article, disbelief hanging heavy in her bones. So much attention over _Kara Danvers,_ not Supergirl. “Where I’m from, I hardly had anyone to discuss my dating life with,” she says in wonder. “And here, everyone and their mother’s got an opinion…”

A pointed silence from the other end of the table has Kara peeking from her phone. Alex is just watching her curiously. 

“What?” 

“Do you want to talk about it now?” Alex asks. 

“No.” Kara drops her phone, letting it clatter back onto the table facedown. 

“Kara, it’s okay to want to talk about it…”

“But I don’t,” Kara says. She nods toward the can of seltzer by Alex’s hand. “You got anything stronger than that?” 

Alex blinks. “What?” Her blank expression gives way to an automatic frown settling over her lips. “But… _why?_ You don’t even drink, Kara. Alcohol doesn’t even affect you.” 

“Yeah, but a little contact buzz never hurt anyone…” Kara murmurs, toying with her own can. “Also, La Croix tastes like nothing.” 

“Yeah, but they’re _healthier_ for you.”

Kara snorts. “Dating Maggie’s turned you into a monster.” 

“And pretending to date Lena’s got you dodging questions like a pro,” Alex returns in a flat voice. She sits back in her chair, studying Kara, waiting for a response that never comes. 

Instead, Kara just pushes her pasta around her plate in muted disgruntlement. Alex sighs, but before she can press on, Kara perks up again, head snapping toward the open window. 

“Robbery on 5th and Main.” 

“The police can handle it, Kara,” Alex starts, exasperated, but Kara is already suited up and walking backwards toward the window. 

“Sorry, Alex. _Some_ of us have jobs to do.” 

Offering only a shrug in exchange for the eye-roll Alex flashes her, Kara jumps out the window, hurtling toward the sirens. 

// 

It isn’t very long before Kara is putting the finishing touches on the robbery piece, thanks to Snapper’s surly commentary and the detailed outline saved onto the yellow flashdrive. She is just about to send the document for Snapper’s final critique when she receives a text message from Cat Grant of all people. 

_MY OFFICE. NOW._

It’s a simple enough message. From anyone else, the all caps might have even been comical. But Cat Grant has always commanded enough authority to pull off pretty much anything with success.

Kara frowns down at the phone, already worried. It must have been dire if Cat wasn’t even going to exercise the power play of collecting her via assistant.

Cat isn’t even pretending to do work when Kara gets to her office, opting to just stare daggers through the glass doors. 

“She’s expecting you,” Eve whispers when Kara doesn’t go in right away. “Please hurry.” 

With a prompt nod, Kara decides to enter the office for Eve's sake at the very least. Once inside, she is left to squirm for a few excruciating moments that could pass for eternities. Kara thinks of three possible ways to break the silence, rejecting each one in turn after brief deliberation. It isn’t until Kara is fishing for a fourth possibility that Cat finally speaks. 

“You lied to me.” 

Kara feels her jaw drop, her breath and heart stoppering her throat. 

Oh _no._ Cat knows. Cat _knows._

At the moment, it's not quite clear what it is exactly that Cat might know, but she definitely know something that she shouldn’t about Kara. Maybe that she’s Supergirl, or that she’s from another timeline, or possibly that she’s a Supergirl from another timeline. Whatever it is, it's been somehow compromised by Kara. Only a few short weeks into filling in for the other Kara, and she’s already changed her life irrevocably. 

“I’m sorry?” Kara squeaks out in one last ditch effort to play dumb. “I don’t— _What?”_ She shifts her weight onto one foot then the other, flapping a hand about, desperately squashing the instinct to touch her glasses because she _really_ shouldn’t be drawing attention to those right now. 

With a steely gaze, Cat tosses onto her desk what appears to be some spare magazine clippings, and Kara winces. 

Photographic evidence? In a tabloid, no less. No matter what Cat’s discovered about her, the fact that she already has tangible, possibly irrefutable proof means that Kara is dead. Because Alex is most _definitely_ going to kill her, inter-dimensional sisterly bond or not. And if Kara ever gets back to her own timeline, the Alex over there would probably _also_ kill her even more on top of that. 

“Listen, I can explain,” Kara starts, taking a step forward, but she’s spared from actually having to invent an explanation when Cat waves her away. 

“You said,” Cat continues in an accusatory drawl, “that you and Lena were _okay.”_

Kara is left baffled. The urgency leaves her body all at once and she approaches the desk to study the images more carefully. 

They’re just several shots from bird’s eye view. Some of Kara leaving Alex’s apartment building. A couple of Kara and Alex entering the same building together. One of Kara entering alone. 

The photos on their own are particularly incriminating, but the yellow block letters superimposed on top— _WHY KARA DANVERS IS IN THE DOG HOUSE—_ certainly paint them that way. 

Kara blinks a few times. “So, uh, what reason did they come up with anyway?” 

“They hadn’t gotten around to fabricating one yet,” Cat says, rolling her eyes. “That’s not the point, Kara. Tabloids spin tales. That’s what they do. Remember that unflattering clip of you two in the elevator? Pure garbage. _However…_ ” she continues, tapping on the clippings with one perfectly manicured fingernail, “these pictures _do_ beg a very important question. Why are you staying with your sister?” 

A million reasons flash through Kara’s mind—both real and fictional—none of which she can actually share with Cat. 

“It’s… complicated,” Kara settles on. 

Cat’s glare goes even colder when she realizes that _that's_ all she would be getting out of Kara. “Never mind then,” she says, flicking her hand dismissively. “But the bottom line is you and Lena Luthor are not allowed to be on the outs right now.” 

“Excuse me?”

“You heard me. I know you’re still adjusting to all _this,_ never having been in the limelight before—” Kara fingers her glasses, trying not to react despite the vivid flashbacks of her various media misadventures involving the likes of Bizarro, Red Kryptonite, and such—“ _however,_ being Luthor-adjacent means you have a certain image to uphold.” 

Kara gives a shrug. “Meaning what?” 

_“Meaning_ that we can’t have National City’s sweethearts in conflict right now,” Cat snaps. “Not with the fundraiser so close. So, if you’re going to break up, save it until _after_ the gala. And make sure to wait at least eight months while you’re at it, so you don’t overshadow all that philanthropy with your petty relationship drama.” 

“We’re— _what?_ We are _not_ breaking up!” Kara sputters out. “Things are just a little… complicated right now. We’re just—”

Cat mimes a zipper across her lips and Kara’s mouth snaps shut with a click. “No excuses, Kara. No _lies,_ especially. You’re moving back into chez Luthor and that’s _final.”_ Then Cat takes a pause, eyes softening, hands squeezed together. She continues in a much gentler tone, “You don’t feel… unsafe there, do you?”

Kara rushes to shake her head. “No, it’s nothing like that. It’s just—”

“If you say ‘complicated’ one more time, I’m taking away your office,” Cat says flatly, and Kara bites back her words, jaw aching from the clench. 

“… convoluted,” Kara finishes lamely. 

Cat narrows her eyes, clearly and thoroughly unimpressed. “Kara, I’ll have you know that I had to call in quite a few favors to get these images pulled from _three_ different seedy publications,” she says. “I only ask that you do your part in ensuring the success of this upcoming fundraiser. I have a _lot_ riding on this. _Investors,_ Kara.” 

“It’s not a problem.” Kara says with a sigh. “I’ll do it. No problem.” 

“Good!” Cat slams her glasses onto her face, already back on her computer and clicking away. “Get to it then.”

// 

Kara makes a beeline for Lena’s office as soon as the elevator doors slide open, bypassing the front desk, plainly disregarding any voiced protests tossed her way. By the time the harried assistant jumps to his feet, Kara is already bursting through the door. 

“Hector…” Lena sighs, rubbing at her temples impatiently. “I already told you. I don’t _need_ lunch today.” Then she takes a double take and blinks, clearly startled. “… Kara.” 

“Miss Luthor!” Hector skids into the room. “I tried to tell her that you weren’t to be disturbed, but she’s _so_ fast and—”

Kara whirls around. "Look. I know you’re just trying to do your job. But right now, there’s something really important that I need to discuss with my _girlfriend._ Okay?” 

Hector gulps audibly. He glances past Kara’s shoulder and almost falls over in relief at Lena's curt nod, leaving the room with haste, quietly shutting the door behind him. Kara waits until Hector is back in his seat and out of earshot before turning back to Lena. 

Lena clears her throat, her hands shuffling around her desk, needlessly organizing the stack of papers before her. “I actually canceled our lunch meeting for today…”

“Oh, I’m well aware,” Kara says. “Just like you’ve canceled the other five lunch meetings. And that’s totally fine. I’m not here for that.” She gestures at the chair in front of Lena’s desk. “May I?” 

“By all means…”

The CEO sits up, poised, apparently more at ease with the professional orientation. So, Kara takes a seat and starts to explain, bringing up the pictures, the tabloids, and Cat’s subsequent orders. The more she talks, the stonier Lena’s demeanor becomes until her polite expression has all but dissolved into one of quiet exasperation.

“I see…” Lena finally says. 

“Also, Cat says that if you’re planning on breaking up, you need to wait at least eight months after the gala,” Kara says, rolling her eyes. “For the sake of appearances and stuff.” 

“Well, that of course goes without saying,” Lena admits with a slight scowl. She drums her fingers on the gleaming white surface of her desk a few times. “But _eight_ months? I honestly thought that five would have sufficed… But I suppose Cat Grant would be the expert on this sort of thing.” 

“You’ve thought about it?” 

Lena’s entire frame goes very, very still. Not even a single muscle twitches on her face. “In my line of work, it’s… beneficial to consider the optics of any potential situation that may arise.” 

“… If you say so.” Kara frowns, but Lena’s clear green eyes betray nothing. 

Instead, she just turns back to the papers on her desk with a rather breezy sigh. “You can move in tonight if you’d like. I trust you won’t need any help doing so?” 

Kara shakes her head and Lena just stares down at her work until she leaves. 

//

Even with Lena’s grudging but genuine invitation, Kara waits two days before actually making the move. Alex insists on coming along to help despite the fact that Kara’s been essentially living out of a duffel bag for the past month or so. 

“From one couch to the next,” Kara pronounces, dropping heavily onto the couch in question. “Who says that the life of a superhero isn’t luxurious?” 

Alex rolls her eyes, swatting at Kara’s feet until she drops them off the cushions. “Whatever, Kara. Just as long as you stop stealing my clothes...” 

“Don’t lie. You’re just glad you can get some alone time with your girlfriend,” Kara says dryly. 

Alex shoots Kara a dirty look, eyes subtly darting to the far corner where Lena’s been watching the entire exchange with her lips pressed together in a thin line. 

“Sorry…” Kara says, following Alex’s gaze. 

“No need,” Lena returns coolly, though her grip on her own arms tightens considerably with the lie. 

Alex glances between the two women with a deep frown. “I need to head out and meet Maggie for an early dinner, but... are you going to be okay?” 

“I’ll be fine,” Kara says, but Alex’s eyes are trained firmly on Lena. 

With a tight smile and a nod, Lena agrees, “Everything’s fine, Alex. We’ll be sure to give you a call if it’s not.” 

And that seems to be an acceptable enough answer for Alex as she leaves the apartment quietly, offering Kara a small wave that she returns just as nonchalantly. 

With their buffer long gone and away, Kara looks over at Lena who’s already staring back at her. An unspoken question of _S_ _o... now what?_ hangs in the air between them. But before Kara can give voice to it, Lena leaves the room, muted footfalls leading directly into the bedroom and the door creaking shut behind her. 

“Yup. Just fine,” Kara mutters to herself, pulling out her laptop because she might as well get some work done while she’s here. 

// 

A few hours later, when Kara has long since moved on from working to watching whatever syndicated sitcom happened to be playing on television, Lena finally emerges from the bedroom. 

She’s softer now. Makeup wiped away, her hair in a less professional bun, pencil skirt exchanged for sweatpants and a loose thermal. In her arms are some clean bedding and a spare pillow that Kara jumps to take from her, making sure to keep their hands from brushing against each other. 

“For…” Lena gestures aimlessly toward the couch. She drifts backwards until she’s hovering just at the edge of the living room, one foot planted in the kitchen. 

“My bed?” Kara supplies for her, none too cheekily. 

Lena gives a slight grimace. “Are you sure the couch is okay?” 

“More than okay,” Kara assures her, patting at the cushy material. “I’ve spent more than a few nights on this couch before. Or its equivalent anyway. It’s comfy enough.” 

“I just feel bad,” Lena says. “You’re technically the guest. If anything, you should be the one taking the bed.” 

“Yeah, that’s not happening.” 

“It was only a suggestion,” Lena says, tone dipping slightly. “I’d be more than happy to rough it on the couch for the entire duration of your stay.” 

Kara shakes her head, scoffing in disbelief. “Lena. I’m not going to kick you out of your own bed.” 

_“Our—”_ Lena abruptly cuts herself off, pale neck now swallowed up in a dark crimson. She angles her face away and Kara looks down at her own hands, waiting for Lena to gather the words, but she never seems to. 

“I’m fine with the couch,” Kara offers in a soft voice. 

Lena rubs at her forehead, exhaling an extended and controlled breath. “Maybe… Maybe I should get a hotel room. Or I can put you up somewhere indefinitely.” 

“But the whole point is to make it seem like we’re not breaking up,” Kara points out. “How’s _that_ going to look?” 

“I can pay them extra to be discreet. I can buy out an entire a floor or…” Lena trails off with another sigh and just shakes her head. 

“This is all just temporary, Lena,” Kara gently reminds her after a pause. “Everything about this… weird situation of ours. Before you know it, you’ll have your own Kara back and you can take her to that really awesome gala that you’ve been working so hard on, and forget that this whole mess ever happened.” 

Lena just nods mutely, tugging at her shirtsleeve. Kara changes tactics. 

“Hey, you got any work to do?”

“Always,” Lena answers automatically.

“All right. Well, then go get your laptop and work on whatever you need to, and I’ll take care of dinner.” Kara squints over at the fridge. “And since all you have is some expired milk and Greek yogurt, it’s going to be takeout. Your treat, obviously.”

“Obviously,” Lena echoes in a softer voice. She sighs and nods to the kitchen counter. “The takeout menus are all in that drawer.” 

“Sweet.” Kara retrieves the impressive stack of menus with more than a little glee in her step. She fans them all across the counter, shaking her head in awe. “Wow. You guys must eat out a lot.” 

A rather undignified snort erupts from where Lena’s standing. She’s covering her mouth with a hand when Kara looks over. 

“I’m so sorry,” Lena says hastily. “That was highly inappropriate of me…” 

Kara shoots her an amused grin. “I think you’re allowed to laugh however you want under your own roof, Lena.” 

“No, I mean… Actually. Never mind.” Lena spins on her heel and marches back down the hallway, calling over her shoulder, “Get whatever you want. My card’s already on file for most of those places.” 

“Will do…” Kara murmurs softly to herself as she parses through the various menus. 

She zeroes in on one glossy pamphlet that's clearly been well-loved and worn. _Sargenti’s._ Oh, pizza. Kara can always go for pizza. And apparently, according to the enthusiastic circles drawn around one menu item in particular, she can always go for an order or two of their speciality chili cheese garlic knots as well.

Kara is greeted by name as soon as she opens her mouth, which is admittedly a strange thing to hear from someone she’s never spoken to before. But honestly, out of all the things she has experienced since arriving to the timeline, it’s not exactly the worst one either. 

// 

About an hour and half into dinner, Kara’s phone buzzes in her pocket. 

 

**Alex [8:40pm]:** So how’s it going? 

**Kara [8:41pm]:** Fine, I think. We’re just netflix and chilling. 

**Alex [8:41pm]:** You’re WHAT

 

Kara has to promptly decline a phone call then a face-time request from Alex in rapid succession. Rolling her eyes heavily, she opens her phone camera in selfie mode and attempts to capture the scene as best she can. She makes sure to include the Apple TV screen, the countless empty pizza boxes, her fingers held up in a peace sign, and Lena frowning down at her laptop, clearly oblivious to the whole matter. That is, until the flash fills her in. 

“I’m just sending Alex some photographic evidence of our very successful Netflix and chill session,” Kara hastily explains when Lena tilts her head at her.

“You told Alex that we’re Netflix and chilling?” Lena asks in quiet disbelief. 

Kara shrugs. “Yeah. Isn’t that what the kids are calling it these days?” 

“Yes, Kara, it _is._ Which is precisely the reason _why…_ ” Lena sighs, but she’s actually smiling. 

Kara just turns back to her phone with a half-frown. 

 

**Alex [8:47pm]:** You’re ridiculous. Did you really eat all that pizza by yourself? 

**Kara [8:48pm]:** Lena had two slices. 

 

Kara slowly chews on the stuffed crust of what she’s decided will be her final slice of pizza for the night. It doesn’t take long for her to piece together Alex’s shock and Lena’s subdued chuckle, and oh… 

“It’s a sex thing, isn’t it?” Kara asks, face pinching in mild embarrassment. “Netflix and chilling?” 

“How do you not know about this?” Amusement creeps into Lena’s soft tone. “Kara’s the one who had to explain it to _me…_ ” 

“Wow, I guess Kara’s just way cooler than me then.” And it’s meant to be a joke, but Kara’s words land flat, somewhat bitter. 

Lena visibly softens, one corner of her lips turning up in a sheepish smile. She gives Kara’s knee a cautious nudge with a socked foot. “Hey. You’re cool.”

Kara snorts and carefully shoves the foot away, because the words sound foreign coming out of Lena’s mouth in a way that she knows firsthand that at least four European languages would not. As if Lena has never had the need to call someone or something _cool_ before. 

“Right. Like you’re the resident expert on what’s _cool?”_ Kara emphasizes her skepticism with exaggerated air quotes. 

“Well, I’ll have you know that I’m actually one-half of National City’s it couple two months running.” 

Kara rolls her eyes, unable to swallow a sly grin. “Oh, how very impressive of you, Miss Luthor.” 

“I’d certainly like to think so, Miss Danvers,” Lena shoots back, returning to her work with a tiny smile still lingering at her lips. 

With a pleased grin, Kara shoves into her mouth what she’s decided will be her last chili cheese garlic knot for the night.

Maybe this wouldn’t be so awkward after all. 

// 

The next morning, Kara is shimmying into her slacks with much difficulty thanks to her highly uncooperative underwear. She’s still dropping various Kryptonian swears directed at one Tommy Hilfiger when the door to the master bedroom opens. 

Kara looks up, ready to the greet the woman padding down the hallway with a customary _Good morning._ But as soon as Lena catches sight of Kara—still adjusting the bunched up boxers, her shirt unbuttoned over a simple white bra—she lets out a garbled squeak and books it to the hallway bathroom. Door slamming shut behind her, Lena shouts at the top of her lungs that she has to brush her teeth right away by way of explanation. 

Alarmed at the sudden uptick in heartbeat, Kara can’t help but peek past the door with narrowed eyes. Lena is just leaning back against the door in a slump, hands covering her reddening cheeks—a far cry from the aforementioned teeth brushing as far as Kara is concerned. 

Fighting off an untimely blush of her own, Kara pulls the rest of her outfit together post-haste and is out the door in the next instant. She calls out to Lena, letting her know that she's leaving, already making mental note after mental note about how she should start getting ready earlier in the day from now on.

Okay. 

So… perhaps a _little_ awkward after all then. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please send me anon hate at "whythinktoomuch" on tumblr; thank you.


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